Senator Jim Webb won't seek re-election

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Senator Jim Webb won't run for re-election

 

By WSLS-TV Staff Reports

Published: February 09, 2011

Updated: February 09, 2011 - 3:50 PM

 

3:50 p.m.

 

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM

 

Associated Press

 

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Freshman Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia announced Wednesday he will retire when his term ends next year, deepening the challenge to his party as it struggles to maintain a Senate majority in the 2012 elections.

 

In an e-mail announcement, the 61-year-old former Navy secretary said that after much thought and consideration, he had decided to return to the private sector. He offered no additional details about his plans but said he intends to remain involved in issues that affect the future and well-being of the country.

 

The announcement leaves the Democrats seeking a strong candidate who can keep the GOP from regaining the seat lost by Republican Sen. George Allen, who was ousted by Webb by about 9,000 votes in the 2006 election. Allen is running for his old seat.

 

The National Republican Senatorial Committee said Webb's decision makes Virginia an "even stronger pickup opportunity for Republicans in 2012." But the chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said the party would field a strong candidate.

 

Tim Kaine, a former Virginia governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said he had hoped Webb would seek re-election, but said the party has made strides "turning Virginia from a solidly Republican state to a highly competitive one ..."

 

President Barack Obama won Virginia in 2008, carrying a state that had traditionally been won by Republican presidential nominees. But Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell won the office in a landslide in 2009, and the GOP defeated three Democrat incumbents in congressional races last year.

 

Still, Kaine said he was confident that Democrats would hold onto Webb's seat next year.

 

Kaine did not indicate in the DNC statement if he would seek the Democratic nomination to succeed Webb and he did not return a telephone request from The Associated Press for comment. Kaine stepped down as governor just over a year ago.

 

Virginia state GOP Chairman Pat Mullins said the announcement "couldn't be worse news for the Democrats."

 

"Instead of facing the most hotly contested Senate race in the country with the advantages of incumbency, they must deal with a nomination contest and then face a Republican candidate in the fall in a state that has overwhelming rejected nearly every Democrat since President Obama was sworn into office," Mullins said.

 

State Democratic Party Chairman Brian Moran, however, said the party was ready for the fight.

 

Allen, the former governor and congressman whose 2006 campaign against Webb was riddled with embarrassments, including referring to a Webb aide of Indian descent as "macaca," is attempting a comeback in 2012. However, he faces primary opposition.

 

Virginia tea party leader Jamie Radtke has declared her candidacy and conservative Del. Bob Marshall, who finished a close second in his bid for the Senate GOP nomination in 2008, is angling toward another race next year.

 

In a statement Wednesday, Allen, the son of the late Washington Redskins coach, said he did not enter the race to run against any one person and his campaign will continue to focus on achievable reforms.

 

Webb is the fourth senator to announce plans to retire. The others are Kent Conrad, D-N.D., Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.

 

Democrats, with a 53-47 majority, must defend 23 Senate seats next year, including two held by independents. Many are in swing states where Republicans hope to mount strong challenges.

 

By contrast, only 10 GOP-held seats will be on the ballot.

 

Webb's decision was not a complete surprise, as he had done little fundraising toward a reelection campaign.

 

President Barack Obama spoke to Webb by telephone on Wednesday and the president thanked him for serving the country, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

 

Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a campaign strategist for Webb and other conservative Democrats, said he believed Webb felt "shackled" by the U.S. Senate.

 

Since taking office, Webb has focused much of his energy on international issues.

 

"I think with his writings, the artistic Jim Webb could easily do more to help forward the causes of economic fairness and social justice out here in the real world rather than the beltway," Saunders said.

 

Webb is the author of six best-selling military suspense novels and "Born Fighting," a nonfiction book published in 2004.

 

"I think there's no question Jim's a writer, and writers write," Saunders said. "I think that he can affect a hell of a lot of change with a pen."

 

Earlier in his career, Webb was a combat Marine in Vietnam, a lawyer, congressional aide and a published author. His appointment as Navy secretary came from President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. But when the Naval Academy graduate made his only run for public office, his upset victory over Allen came as a Democrat.

[Hacker 82]

I think that Congress in general and the Senate in particular move at such a glacial pace that it stifles the dynamic individuals who want to accomplish things. This is probably the case with Webb.

 

Way too much formality and traditions and rules for getting things done quickly. A big part of Congress' problems

[Guest The Variable]

Im glad he is leaving. Hes hardly the worst guy in the senate, but not who I want representing me.

 

Guys who put their "I-love-me Wall" on display at their office with a glass wall for all passersby to see from the street have ego problems.

 

I could be eating my words though if Tim Kaine becomes a VA Senator...what a disaster.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

Im glad he is leaving. Hes hardly the worst guy in the senate, but not who I want representing me.

 

Guys who put their "I-love-me Wall" on display at their office with a glass wall for all passersby to see from the street have ego problems.

 

I could be eating my words though if Tim Kaine becomes a VA Senator...what a disaster.

 

I hope they run Kaine. It'd be an auto-win for the right, the way Kaine has conducted himself.

[Guest The Variable]

I hope they run Kaine. It'd be an auto-win for the right, the way Kaine has conducted himself.

 

I have mixed feelings. Murtha still won his district even after calling his constituency racists. He was a house guy though and not a senator. I guess a better comparrison would be Harry Reid still won last year.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

I have mixed feelings. Murtha still won his district even after calling his constituency racists. He was a house guy though and not a senator. I guess a better comparrison would be Harry Reid still won last year.

 

It's amazing how they can act, and still earn a seat.

[Hacker 82]

It's amazing how they can act, and still earn a seat.

 

Look at some of the yahoos who have been elected over the years. Jim Bunning kept getting elected in KY and was incompetent, Joe McCarthy was a self important demagogue, Huey Long was a scoundrel and a crook, Arch Moore could get elected after all he did, Marion Berry steals money is caught on video doing crack with hookers and still is in office and the list could go on.

 

Do we end up getting the best representative every time? Often we pick wrong.

[losheyhombres 11]

Gotta wonder if Sen. Webb would have decided to retire if the dems. would have picked up 60 seats in 2010. I really doubt it! Coupled with the fact that he barely got by Allen the first time, and Allen has decided to run again.

[Deleted Account 5,203]

Look at some of the yahoos who have been elected over the years. Jim Bunning kept getting elected in KY and was incompetent, Joe McCarthy was a self important demagogue, Huey Long was a scoundrel and a crook, Arch Moore could get elected after all he did, Marion Berry steals money is caught on video doing crack with hookers and still is in office and the list could go on.

 

Do we end up getting the best representative every time? Often we pick wrong.

 

Reminds me of just how close David Duke was to winning the LA governor's race in 1988. Scary, really.