Webb says no

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: July 9, 2008

Jim Webb didn’t have too much to lose when pundits started speculating that he might be Barack Obama’s vice presidential choice.

If Obama had asked Webb to join the ticket, Virginia’s junior senator could have held his seat during the campaign and returned to the Senate if Obama lost in November. Certainly, the national attention underscored Webb’s military and national security credentials — which included service in the Marine Corps during Vietnam and Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration.

Obama and Webb are both in their first Senate terms, but Webb is 16 years older than Obama. Webb’s resume, age and his surprise victory over George Allen in 2006 led many pundits to wonder if he could deliver not only Virginia but other southern states to Obama.

But Webb took himself out of the running last week by contacting Obama and his campaign.

“Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for vice president,” Webb said in a statement released Monday. “… I am convinced that my efforts and talents toward those ends are best served in the Senate.”

Webb is still celebrating his bill expanding the G.I. Bill for veterans who served after 9/11. That signature legislation attracted the support of 58 senators from both parties and more than 300 members of the House of Representatives.

It’s an impressive accomplishment for Webb’s first two years in the Senate, and it complements his goals of national security, economic fairness and government accountability.

Presidential candidates have to carefully choose the right person to be their vice president. We can only wonder what Webb could have done for Obama if he were on the ticket.

No Democrat has won Virginia since Lyndon Johnson did it in 1964, but the fastest-growing part of Virginia — the suburbs around Washington — are also the most likely to support Obama. Democrats also have a better-funded, more popular candidate for U.S. Senate this year in Mark Warner.

Finally, it was Webb’s victory over Allen — plus victories by Warner in 2001 and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in 2005 — that led people to believe our state might be “in play” for the Democrats this year.

In a statewide election, that might be the case. We may be reaching the point when as NoVa goes, so goes Virginia.

For now, Webb has said he will support Obama.

“He is a man who speaks eloquently about our national goals and calls for the practical solutions that must be put into place to obtain them,” Webb said in the statement. “I will proudly campaign for him.”

It’s encouraging when a politician is willing to finish the term he was elected to.

Webb would have brought a lot to Obama’s presidential campaign, but he belongs in the Senate working for Virginia.