Webb Is In Senate Race

In what runs contrary to a rumor that flashed across the Lefty Blogs on Jan. 30, a rumor that passed for a few days as expert inside information, James Webb announced yesterday that he will seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican incumbent George Allen for his Senate seat.

In the Washington Post Michael D. Shear writes, “James Webb, who served as President Ronald Reagan's Navy secretary, said Tuesday that he will seek the Democratic nomination to run against U.S. Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) this year, hoping to challenge the one-term incumbent on foreign policy and the conduct of the war in Iraq.

“...A former Marine, Webb served in Vietnam and was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. On his personal Web site, he describes having been raised in a family with ‘a strong citizen-soldier military tradition.’ He is also a novelist and filmmaker, having written ‘Rules of Engagement,’ a 2000 film that opens with a confrontation involving U.S. Marines in Yemen. But winning the Democratic nomination in Virginia this year will require Webb to explain his Republican roots. He had served as an assistant secretary of defense under Reagan and was appointed secretary of the Navy in 1987. A year later, Webb resigned the post abruptly amid clashes with Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci.”

Here's a link to the Richmond Times-Dispatch's account of the same story.

In a related story AP writer Jon Sarche's "Veterans Enter Political Arena" shows that Webb is hardly the only vet campaigning against President Bush's foreign policy.

"...By one count, at least 11 veterans of the Iraq war or Afghanistan are hoping to get elected to the House or Senate, all but one of them Democrats. The fighting Democrats, as some call themselves, say their military experience could give them the credibility to criticize the war without being dismissed out of hand by the GOP as naive and weak on defense, as the Bush administration has often done."