2016 Presidential Campaign Blog

Jim Webb Hires Draft Biden National Finance Director Sam Jones

Jim Webb Hires Draft Biden National Finance Director Sam Jones

Webb2016 has retained former Draft Biden National Finance Director Sam Jones to lead fundraising operations for Jim Webb’s potential independent presidential candidacy.
 
While no firm decision has been made about a run, Webb and staff have conducted a thorough study of the process for gaining access to ballots in an environment where the Democratic and Republican monopoly of the complicated state-by-state rules are designed to deny voters an independent choice.
 
“After weeks of study, including consultations with ballot experts and independent activists around the country, we have a handle on what it takes to give voters in every state a real choice,” Webb spokesperson Craig Crawford said. “We are so pleased that Sam Jones is coming on board to help us examine what is now the decisive issue: How to pay for it.”
 
Jones, who lives in Dallas, TX, crafted a nationwide network of donors last year that was poised to significantly boost a Biden presidential campaign, but the Vice President chose not to run. Prior to that effort Jones has worked on the fundraising side for a variety of national, state and local campaigns.
 
“Americans deserve a new type of bold and honest leader, one who stands miles apart from the bitter theatrics we see before us today,” Jones said. “There is one proven leader who can rise above this mess. One who can make voters from all walks of life proud, regardless of their political affiliations. And that leader is Jim Webb. I'm honored to be a part of his team and this movement to restore sanity to the national discourse."
 
The Webb Campaign has also partnered with Aristotle, a non-partisan, pioneering and leading international political technology enterprise run by John Aristotle Phillips and his brother, Dean Aristotle Phillips.
 
Jim Webb left the Democratic nomination race late last year to pursue the possibility of an independent run, writing in a Washington Post Op-Ed:

Jim Webb Remarks Withdrawing from the Democratic Nomination Race at the National Press Club on October 20, 2015

Senator Jim Webb Remarks Withdrawing from the Democratic Nomination Race at the National Press Club on October 20, 2015

Senator Jim Webb
National Press Club
20 October 2015

Several years ago Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s wife Elizabeth sent me a wooden chink that had been used to put together the old school house on the rural farm where he wrote his books.  We’d been talking about the kinship I felt with Senator Moynihan for his thoughtful approach to governance, his willingness to put country ahead of party, and his search for solutions rather than political expediency.  She wrote on it, “square pegs in a round hole.”  
 
Some people say I am a Republican who became a Democrat, but that I often sound like a Republican in a room full of Democrats or a Democrat in a room full of Republicans.  Actually I take that as a compliment.  More people in this country call themselves political independents than either Republican or Democrat.  I happen to agree with them.  Our country is more important than a label.  Democrats in years past like Sam Nunn, Scoop Jackson, Mike Mansfield and John F. Kennedy understood this.   
 
Americans are disgusted by all this talk of Republicans and Democrats calling each other the enemy instead of reaching across the aisle and finding ways to work together.   I know what an enemy really is, from hard personal experience in combat.  The other party in America is not the enemy; they are the opposition.  In our democracy we are lucky to have an opposition, in order to have honest debate.  It’s creative.  It’s healthy.  There is no opposition party in China because there are no elections in China, or in other non-democratic, authoritarian societies.
 
Over the years, whether I’ve worked with Democrats or Republicans my basic beliefs, principles of leadership and love of country have never changed.  I’ve proudly served for four years in the Reagan Administration, and I’ve proudly served as a Democrat in the Senate.  
 
But we must be honest here, because the very nature of our democracy is under siege, due to the power structure and the money that finances both political parties.  Our political candidates are being pulled to the extremes.  They are increasingly out of step with the people they are supposed to serve.  Poll after poll shows that a strong plurality of Americans is neither Republican nor Democrat.  Overwhelmingly they’re independents.  Americans don’t like the extremes to which both parties have moved in recent years, and I don’t blame them.
 
And I know I’m going to hear it, so let me be the first to say this:  I fully accept that my views on many issues are not compatible with the power structure and the nominating base of the Democratic Party.  That party is filled with millions of dedicated, hard-working Americans.  But its hierarchy is not comfortable with many of the policies that I have laid forth, and frankly I am not that comfortable with many of theirs.  

For this reason I am withdrawing from any consideration of being the Democratic Party’s nominee for the Presidency.  This does not reduce in any way my concerns about the challenges facing our country, my belief that I can provide the best leadership in order to meet these challenges, or my intentions to remain fully engaged in the debates that are facing us.  How I remain as a voice will depend on what kind of support I am shown in the coming days and weeks as I meet with people from all sides of America’s political landscape.  And I intend to do that.  
 
I hold strong views about where the country needs to go.  I will never change these views in order to adapt to a party platform as a way to get nominated for the presidency.  I feel strongly that if I were nominated for the Presidency I could win, and that if I were the President I could assemble an administration filled with great minds and capable leaders from all the sectors of our society who share my vision and could bring this country back to its revered position as a beacon of fairness at home and of principled common sense in its foreign policy abroad.  
 
I am not going away.  I am thinking through all of my options.  240 years ago the Declaration of Independence from our status as a colony from Great Britain was announced.  It’s time for a new Declaration of Independence – not from an outside power but from the paralysis of a federal system that no longer serves the interests of the vast majority of the American people.
 
The Presidency has gained too much power.  The Congress has grown weak and often irrelevant.  The present-day Democratic and Republican parties are not providing the answers and the guarantees that we can rely on.  The financial sector represented by the Wall Street bankers is caring less and less about the conditions of the average American worker for the simple reason that their well-being depends on the global economy, not the American economy.  
 
Our political process is jammed up.   It needs an honest broker who respects all sides, who understands the complicated nature of how our federal system works, who will communicate a vision for our country’s future here at home and in our foreign policy, and who has a proven record of getting things done.  
 
I’ve worked with both sides, and I have a lot of respect for many people who are members of both parties.  I know how broken our system really is.  This country needs a totally new dynamic that respects and honors our history and our traditions but is not a slave to the power structures that are failing us.
 
I love this country, and all that it has allowed me to achieve over the span of my life.   I always have and always will put country above political party or personal ambition.

-- Jim Webb

Jim Webb 2016 Presidential Campaign Blog Ads in 300x250, 728x90, and 160x600 Sizes

   

Jim Webb To Consider Independent Run, Hold Press Conference on Tuesday in Washington DC

Jim Webb To Consider Independent Run

Senator Jim Webb will hold a press conference on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, to discuss his candidacy, the campaign and his views of the political parties in the current election cycle.

Tuesday, Oct 20

1:00 p.m. ET

National Press Club
Zenger Room
529 14th Street NW
Washington, DC

Jim Webb in Iowa on Saturday, September 19, 2015 and Sunday, September 20, 2015

Jim Webb in Iowa on Saturday, September 19, 2015 and Sunday, September 20, 2015

Saturday, September 19, 2015

5:00 p.m.to 7:00 p.m. CT

Rep. Mark Smith Barbecue
UAW Local 893
411 Iowa Ave W,
Marshalltown, Iowa 50158
 
Sunday, September 20, 2015

11:00 a.m.to 12:00 p.m. CT

RFD-TV Rural Town Hall
Q&A with studio audience
Stine Barn, 4000 Turnberry
Des Moines, IA

This series offers presidential candidates the opportunity to share their vision for rural America, while answering questions submitted by rural associations, organizations, and commodity groups.

Mark Smith's 15th Annual Marshalltown Iowa BBQ with Jim Webb and Will O'Malley (Son of Martin O'Malley) on Saturday, September 19, 2015

Mark Smith's 15th Annual Marshalltown BBQ with Jim Webb and Will O'Malley (Son of Martin O'Malley) on Saturday, September 19, 2015

Saturday, September 19, 2015

at 5:00pm - 7:00pm

UAW Local 893
411 Iowa Ave W, Marshalltown, Iowa 50158

Join Marshall County Democrats and friends at my 15th Annual Marshalltown BBQ. Tickets are just $10 and every dime goes to helping me continue my fight for a better Iowa in Des Moines. Your support means a lot to me, hope to see you there!

Featured Speakers:

- Presidential Candidate Jim Webb
- Iowa State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald
- Will O'Malley (Son of presidential candidate Martin O'Malley)

https://www.facebook.com/events/514707138678978/

Jim Webb To Be Awarded Navy League American Patriot Award

Jim Webb To Be Awarded Navy League American Patriot Award
 
HONOLULU -- Jim Webb will be honored by the Navy League, the foremost citizens’ organization to serve, support and stand with all the sea services, at the 12th annual American Patriot Dinner on Saturday in Honolulu. The next day Webb will deliver a speech outlining his vision for America and his positions on national security and foreign policy at a special gathering where he will be welcomed by the Vietnamese community, featuring many veterans and a tribute to Hawaiian culture.
 
The Navy League of the United States will present the Honolulu Council's American Patriot Award to Webb at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor (319 Lexington Blvd, Honolulu, HI 96818) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 12. Sen. John McCain is among the past recipients of this prestigious award.
 
Sunday’s event will be held at the Jade Dynasty Restaurant, 4th Floor, in the Ala Moana Shopping Center (1450 Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814) on Sept. 13 at 5:30 p.m.
 
Webb, former U.S. Senator from Virginia, has been a combat Marine, a counsel in the Congress, an assistant secretary of defense and Secretary of the Navy, an Emmy-award winning journalist, a film-maker, and the author of 10 books.
 
Webb is the only military veteran seeking the Democratic presidential nomination this year and the only combat veteran running in either party. His military awards include the second, third and fourth highest medals for valor. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts for heroism while commanding a Marine rifle platoon and company in Vietnam.
 
Webb’s journalistic career included broad coverage in East and Southeast Asia, as well as time as a combat correspondent in Beirut during the Marine Corps deployment in 1983, for which he received a National Emmy Award, and as an embedded reporter in Afghanistan in 2004. Among his many books are Fields of Fire, widely considered the classic novel of the Vietnam War, and Born Fighting, a 2,000-year history of the Scots-Irish people that writer Tom Wolfe termed “the  most brilliant battle flare ever launched by a book… an important work of sociological history.”
 
While in the Senate, Webb made veterans issues a priority, authoring and steering to passage the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which has helped more than 1 million veterans get education benefits. As a senator he steadfastly focused on foreign affairs, making a high-profile trip to Myanmar in 2009 to help secure the release of an American prisoner, and serving as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee’s Asia-Pacific subcommittee. On domestic affairs, Mr. Webb was a strong proponent of reforming the criminal justice system, an issue that is again in the limelight.
 
Webb will be accompanied by his wife, Hong Le Webb, who was born in Vietnam. She and her family left the country after the fall of Saigon in 1975. She grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, and later attended college at the University of Michigan, and then received her law degree from Cornell. She was an accomplished securities and corporate lawyer in Washington D.C.

Jim Webb Speaks at The Des Moines Register Soap Box at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday, August 13, 2015

Jim Webb Speaks at The Des Moines Register Soap Box at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday, August 13, 2015

Thursday, Aug. 13: IOWA

The Des Moines Register Soap Box
Iowa State Fair
Jim Webb speaks at 1:00 p.m. CT

Jim Webb Speaks to the Iowa Federation of Labor in Altoona, Iowa on Thursday, August 6, 2015

Jim Webb Speaks to the Iowa Federation of Labor in Altoona, Iowa on Thursday, August 6, 2015

Thursday, August 6: IOWA

Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO

Jim Webb Speaks at 3:15 p.m. CT

Prairie Meadows Casino
1 Prairie Meadows Drive
Altoona, Iowa

Jim Webb Speaks to Veterans in Hudson, New Hampshire on Saturday, August, 15, 2015 *Canceled

Jim Webb Speaks to Veterans in Hudson, New Hampshire on Saturday, August, 15, 2015

Saturday Aug. 15 at 4 PM ET
Jim Webb Speaks to Veterans
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5791
15 Bockes Rd, Hudson, NH 03051

HUDSON, N.H. – Jim Webb will deliver a speech outlining his positions on the economy, national security and veterans issues before of a crowd of New Englanders, many of whom will be military veterans, August 15 at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5791 in Hudson. The appearance will include a meet-and-greet with veterans as well as answering questions from the audience.

Webb, former Senator from Virginia, is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 2016 Presidential election. He has been a combat Marine, a counsel in the Congress, an assistant secretary of defense and Secretary of the Navy, an Emmy-award winning journalist, a film-maker, and the author of ten books.

Webb is the only military veteran seeking the Democratic nomination this year and the only combat veteran running in either party. His military awards include the second, third and fourth highest medals for valor. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts for heroism while commanding a Marine rifle platoon and company in Vietnam.

Webb’s journalistic career included broad coverage in East and Southeast Asia, as well as time as a combat correspondent in Beirut during the Marine Corps deployment in 1983, for which he received a National Emmy Award, and as an embedded reporter in Afghanistan in 2004. Among his many books are Fields of Fire, widely considered the classic novel of the Vietnam War, and Born Fighting, a two-thousand year history of the Scots-Irish people that writer Tom Wolfe termed “the most brilliant battle flare ever launched by a book… an important work of sociological history.”

While in the Senate, Webb conceived, personally wrote and ushered through Congress the modern G.I. Bill, which has now benefited more than 1 million veterans. He also led a national effort to reform America’s criminal justice system.

This particular event is largely being organized by veterans who also served in Vietnam. They are the first of a grassroots group calling themselves Warriors for Webb.

The event is scheduled to begin Saturday at 4 p.m. Webb is expected to speak for about 20 minutes and then spend time with those in attendance.