Webb's Impending Run for US Senate has Ramifications Beyond Virginia
Former Reagan Administration Navy Secretary James Webb has signaled his intention to run for the 2006 Democratic nomination for Virginia's US Senate seat, which is now held by presumptive 2008 GOP presidential candidate George Allen. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Webb, a political neophyte, says that “he will file papers this week to seek the Democratic nomination to run for the U.S. Senate this year.” Webb will now face former technology industry lobbyist Harris Miller for the party’s nod.
The Washington Post quotes Webb as saying that his campaign would "look very hard at all the notions of fairness in our society" in addition to foreign and national security policy issues. A Naval Academy graduate and decorated Marine who opposed the Iraq War, he earned a law degree from Georgetown and has written seven critically-acclaimed books. He resigned his Reagan-era Pentagon post over disagreements with the Administration on force reductions, and in subsequent years, Webb supported both Democratic and Republican candidates for various offices.
Several elements of this race should be of interest to observers of Southern politics. First, Democratic activists around Virginia have pushed hard for Webb's candidacy for months, and they initiated a “Draft James Webb” effort. The Raising Kaine blog, which helped elect Virginia’s new Democratic governor, spent significant amounts of time and energy promoting Webb. Says Raising Kaine writer & strategist Josh Chernila, "we pulled together thousands of dollars in pledges, and over a thousand signatures encouraging Mr. Webb to take up the banner." Now that these efforts have seemingly paid off, they continue to demonstrate the growing power of Internet-based movements to influence political variables and even candidates. Such initiatives could become difference-makers in the South, a region without hegemonic traditional media outlets.
Second, what could be the most fascinating aspect of the Webb candidacy is its potential to shift the racial politics of the former states of the Confederacy. In a 2004 Wall Street Journal article, Webb posited a politically-potent theory about uniting the South’s two major cultural groups. He says, "in fact the greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African Americans to the same table, and so to redefine a formula that has consciously set them apart for the past two centuries."
With Webb’s official announcement coming soon, what looked to be a shoo-in for Senator Allen is turning into a competitive and intriguing race.
The Washington Post quotes Webb as saying that his campaign would "look very hard at all the notions of fairness in our society" in addition to foreign and national security policy issues. A Naval Academy graduate and decorated Marine who opposed the Iraq War, he earned a law degree from Georgetown and has written seven critically-acclaimed books. He resigned his Reagan-era Pentagon post over disagreements with the Administration on force reductions, and in subsequent years, Webb supported both Democratic and Republican candidates for various offices.
Several elements of this race should be of interest to observers of Southern politics. First, Democratic activists around Virginia have pushed hard for Webb's candidacy for months, and they initiated a “Draft James Webb” effort. The Raising Kaine blog, which helped elect Virginia’s new Democratic governor, spent significant amounts of time and energy promoting Webb. Says Raising Kaine writer & strategist Josh Chernila, "we pulled together thousands of dollars in pledges, and over a thousand signatures encouraging Mr. Webb to take up the banner." Now that these efforts have seemingly paid off, they continue to demonstrate the growing power of Internet-based movements to influence political variables and even candidates. Such initiatives could become difference-makers in the South, a region without hegemonic traditional media outlets.
Second, what could be the most fascinating aspect of the Webb candidacy is its potential to shift the racial politics of the former states of the Confederacy. In a 2004 Wall Street Journal article, Webb posited a politically-potent theory about uniting the South’s two major cultural groups. He says, "in fact the greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African Americans to the same table, and so to redefine a formula that has consciously set them apart for the past two centuries."
With Webb’s official announcement coming soon, what looked to be a shoo-in for Senator Allen is turning into a competitive and intriguing race.
posted by SouthoftheJames.org @ 5:30 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Mr. Webb also said something to the effect that he "didn't wake up in the morning thinking about running for Senator. But he did wake up worrying about the condition of the country." He shares that concern with the new Democratic Band of Brothers, returned war vets running as Democrats all across the country for offices at all levels, fed up with the so-called leadership of Bush and his buddies.
I, like Mr. Webb, am a former Republican whose concern for what is happening to America under the Bush people drove me out of the GOP. There are many more like me, most feeling bewildered and betrayed by their old Party, and when Mr. Webb begins talking I am sure more will flock to his banner, relieved to find they are not alone. This could be the beginning of not just George Allen's but George Bush's worst nightmare.
I agree uppitygal:
James Webb could be the pinprick in the waterbaloon.
sploosh!
What is really great about this is to have a former Republican and a veteran running as a Democrat to show that Democrats can stand up for themselves and white people too and you know I was bothered by this but I don't care if he's not a progressive, I don't care what he thinks about a woman's right to choose, or education, or jobs, or anything, he's a veteran and shit man that's enough for me!
Hey Conway, thanks for the article, along with some good posts. Webb seems to be a pretty independent guy, and I have been wondering about this for along time, with all the partisan nonsense going on, will we begin to see some party candidates who don't tote party lines, who are independent in thought and action? I think Webb could really be the begining of a new wave of political candidates.. I think in the next 2-3 election cycles there will be a lot of Americans looking for both Dems and Repubs who don't tote the line. Dems that may not be proabortion, and Repubs that may not be antiabortion and prowar. It seems in the past 10 years the Texas Mafia has really taken over the Republican party and used the old mafia code of 'Omerto' or silence within the party, not allowing anyone to speak out against it. And, with the democrats they have been trying to please so many little interest groups that they have seem almost afraid to take a strong position so as not to offend one or the other. Isn't it better to have someone represent you that will stand for what he believes in rather than what to see what the head of the party does, or what the latest Zogby polls says?
the new wave of republicrats and the death of the progressive movement
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