I don't see if, unless the RNC offers to get him on swing state ballots. https://t.co/dyPwhmxvDH
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) December 28, 2015
Speaking of minor prospective candidates whose announcements you might’ve missed over the holidays, Jim Webb must’ve had a bad family Christmas, because on Saturday morning he put up a long facebook rant complaining that Hillary Clinton just doesn’t have the testosterone to be a real commander in chief — too busy talking about “partners” and “saving lives”, as women are so prone to do. Then he and his twitter-friends started trading quips about how maybe Webb should run as an independent, a prospect highly exciting for political horserace touts like the guys at Bloomberg Politics:
… A run by Webb, who often manages his own social media accounts and has also used them recently to promote a petition in favor of his run and to deliver kudos to Bernie Sanders in his battles with the Democratic National Committee (“nothing more than an arm for the Clinton campaign,” Webb tweeted), could further complicate the already unpredictable 2016 election.
While observers typically have analyzed the prospect of a third-party or independent run by Republican front-runner Donald Trump—or even one from Sanders—Webb could still alter the dynamics of the race even with his smaller profile.
A recent CNN poll, for instance, forecast tight races between Clinton and several Republican contenders in hypothetical match-ups for the general election. Webb’s campaign has told Bloomberg Politics it would concentrate on mobilizing voters in the ideological middle, along with people who have become dissatisfied with politics…
Webb could also get a boost from the organizers of the general election debates, who are preparing for the possibility of three candidates onstage, albeit ones who thus far, have managed to command far more support than Webb the roughly one percent of Democratic support Webb managed to muster by the time he quote the race…
For some reason, self-proclaimed “centrism” or not, it’s the yakkers on the right to far-right side of the aisle who seem most excited about another “independent” vote-leaching candidate. And one with a history of shooting off his mouth, quite often in the direction of his own foot, too!
I very much doubt this will go beyond increasing Jim Webb’s visibility on what Calvin Trillin called the Sabbathday Gasbag broadcasts, but at least now you’ll know what the jokes are about.
Nothing says "Well-oiled campaign" like a Christmas weekend trial balloon where the spox doesn't return calls pic.twitter.com/o9fvar97v8
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) December 27, 2015
No, Jim Webb Probably Would Not Be A Viable Independent Candidate For President https://t.co/POHSy3QgVc
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) December 28, 2015
But that's never been an obstacle to appearing on Morning Joe. https://t.co/C8rdMKiad5
— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) December 28, 2015
Late Night Year-End Leftovers Open ThreadPost + Comments (43)