Yesterday, a Jim Webb-"intrigued" reader sent me a video of the former senator's address to the National Press Club, and asked what I thought of his possible candidacy. My answer was that, in my opinion, "if anybody has a shot at defeating Hillary, Webb does. The problem, though, is of course money." Hillary will have a lock on it, and if Webb begins to threaten her in Iowa or elsewhere, she'll unleash it on him with the ethical care of a Mitt Romney.
But, on occasion we do witness the impotence of big money. Lord knows Hillary's head start in 2007's graft-chase never did her much good, since as a presidential candidate, her irrepressible negatives outweighed her positive cash flow.
A secondary problem for Webb is that he's not exactly Mr. Dynamite. He's rather dry, somewhat diffident, infinitely methodical in delivery and, though eloquent, only mildly inspiring. On the upside, such things can be tweaked; that's why God created media consultants. What's more, professional competence practically oozes out of the guy.
Does he have a shot? You bet he does, assuming he kicks in to at least one higher gear. It's well known that Senator Webb never cared for the banalities of retail politics, but then again, Senator Obama didn't either.