Well, it's now official: James Webb is running for U.S. Senate from Virginia! Michael Shear of the Washington Post breaks the story as follows:
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."I don't wake up in the morning wanting to be a U.S. senator," Webb said in an interview. "I wake up every morning very concerned about the country. We need to put some focus back in our foreign policy, a different focus."
Webb, who has been flirting with a Senate bid for months, declined to elaborate about his decision or his campaign plans. But he said he will file papers this week to officially become a candidate. He said he will formally announce his plans as early as next week.
"Yes, we're going to file papers later this week," he said. In addition to a focus on foreign policy, he said his campaign would "look very hard at all the notions of fairness in our society."
Perhaps my favorite part of this story - aside from the references to Raising Kaine and to our "aggressive political draft effort" - is the comment by George Allen's spokesman, Dick Wadhams:
Senator Allen has always expected a competitive race. We will run on competitiveness, national security and values.
Translation from Allen-speak? D'oh! I am SO screwed! How am I going to run for President when I have to run for Senate as well. And how on earth am I going to go after an American hero like James Webb, a former Reagan Navy Secretary who was busy earning Navy Crosses and Silver Stars in Vietnam while I was, uh, in college during the Vietnam War? How am I going to win a debate against a guy who won an Emmy Award for his courageous reporting from Beirut? Oh shit.
Anyway, I strongly welcome James Webb to the race for Senate here in Virginia. The next 9 months are going to be truly amazing. I've gotta get going now, but I'm sure that my Draft Webb colleagues - Josh, Lee, etc. - will have a lot more to say on this later. Oh, and before I forget: THANK YOU to everyone who signed our petition, who pledged money, and who sent supportive e-mails over the past few weeks. You guys are great!
P.S. There should be a sizeable contingency of James Webb supporters at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner this Saturday night. Hope to see as many of you there as possible - let's pack the place!
[UPDATE: The Richmond Times Dispatch reports on the likelihood of a primary between Webb and Harris Miller. "Both men will need to make themselves known to Virginians," said Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Virginia.]