Breaking on MSNBC: Webb preparing to announce independent run

[berni_mccoy]

That's all they said so far.

[DCBob]

1. Meaningless.

[madamesilverspurs]

2. Well . . .

he'll get all the time he wants at his next debate.

[Cali_Democrat]

5. LOL. nt

[uponit7771]

27. +1

[karynnj]

29. Best comment yet!

I don't get how a guy who really does not campaign much, is horrible on raising money and has no charisma at all has a chance. I do see that he has a problem that his issues do not align well with either party -- but to succeed as an independent he needs charisma, energy, a huge group of reporters willing to take on all the work the parties normally do, and his own source of money. Of these -- he has none.

[hedda_foil]

58. IF he pulls it off, he could take the old school Republican and indie vote.

That could be bad for Bernie, good for Hillary. I'm taking it as a given that he has a group like No Labels behind.him to get his name on the ballot for the general, and PACfulls of megabucks.

On edit, I almost.forgot the Joe Lieberman wing of the Democratic Party.

[yeoman6987]

3. Damn. Even if he gets 2 percent that could hurt

Why does he feel the need to do this?

[angrychair]

6. 2% is being generous nt

[yeoman6987]

10. Hopefully. You are right but every vote is needed

We are competing for a third consecutive democratic term in a country that Changes presidential parties every 8 years. We don't need this.

[angrychair]

21. I agree

But as a former Virginian, I don't think he has a broad enough appeal, funding or charisma to carry it.

[yeoman6987]

34. Love it and thank you. I am so glad that you from Virginia brought sanity to this..... I was

the one that was being overly cautious.

[PoliticAverse]

11. You assume that the majority of that 2% would be from Democrats rather than Republicans. n/t

[yeoman6987]

14. True. Hopefully this turns out false.

[jfern]

15. He's not going to get 2%, and some will be from Republicans

[Alittleliberal]

31. I think he would pull more from the repubs then us.

That could actually help the eventual dem nom.

[ion_theory]

4. HAAAAA. Good luck Webby. n/t

[JI7]

7. sounds Like a joke. The guy has no support on either side

[Armstead]

8. Oh dear. There goes the Waaaah. I want more time vote.

[DesertRat]

9. I expected a link to the Onion

[TDale313]

12. Why?

Also, yawn.

[bunnies]

13. A great example of why having a (D) after ones name doesnt mean shit.

What an ass.

[Dems to Win]

16. I wonder if he will even be able to collect enough signatures to get on 50 ballots. Hope not nt

[ibegurpard]

17. this is not good news

Running as an I might get him support he's not otherwise getting right now. The flippant disregard some of you are treating this news with is foolish.

[1StrongBlackMan]

32. I suspect he will garner support from "Reagan Democrats", and little else. n/t

[ibegurpard]

35. you better hope they'd otherwise be voting Republican

If Hillary's the nominee she's going to have enough trouble with turnout without an independent running who could pull Democratic votes. He doesn't appeal to me or anyone I know but even 1 pct could make a difference. I think we can probably lay this at the feet of the ham-handed DCC chair.

[1StrongBlackMan]

41. Actually, I suspect that "Reagan Democrats" will go more for HRC ...

than, O'Malley, and certain more than for Bernie ... that "Democratic Socialist" thing.

[ibegurpard]

56. Well Bernie won't be running as an independent

So we won't need to worry about anyone gravitating to him should Hillary win.

[1StrongBlackMan]

59. True ... my bad. n/t

[treestar]

36. Why is that?

Just the aura of being "I"?

[ibegurpard]

40. yes

In case you hadn't noticed anti-establishment candidates are drawing a lot of support on both sides of the aisle right now.

[karynnj]

39. He has little or no support from Democrats - look at any poll

As an independent, he has to:

1) Get himself on 50 ballots -- which means a huge effort to get petitions signed to get him on. The rules differ by state. Consider how many people he needs backing him to do just this. Have you seen a lot of Webbmania that would indicate he has that kind of support in the country.

2) He needs to raise MORE money than the Democrats or the Republicans. They each have local parties that they can use in the general election. Poor infrastructure has hurt the democrats in a few recent elections -- imagine not just having a weak state party, but none at all.

3) Look at the amount he raised this quarter - it was less than $500K -- compared to $28 Million for HRC.

4) He has shown rather little interest in campaigning.

5) His web site looks almost like something a first time person running for local office might put together - https://www.webb2016.com/ (I apologize if this is not the official web site it was what I found using google.)

[ibegurpard]

54. running as an independent

May increase his appeal with an electorate angry at establishment politicians. I have no idea who he might appeal to but if it's to people who might otherwise vote Democratic even 1 pct could be a real problem.
Does anyone know what his beef is? If it's how DWS has been handling the debates then it's even more reason for her to be gone.

[BootinUp]

18. I wonder if he didn't qualify for future debates or something

seems like a strange move at this point.

[brush]

19. This news should cause a huge ripple :sarcasm:.

[72DejaVu]

20. You never know...

If the GOP nominates Trump or Carson, the last sane Republicans might vote for him.

[HerbChestnut]

22. That's what I'm thinking.

At the very least I think he'll take more support from the Republican candidate than the Democratic one.

[72DejaVu]

24. I considered something like that during the debate

Although I was thinking that Webb was playing more of a long game, thinking that if the GOP were actually to rupture, and a new "moderate" center-right party emerge, they'd be anxious to recruit some conservative Democrats to gain credibility, and he'd could become a party leader by default.

[saturnsring]

25. my thoughts as well, waterdown the gop vote. idk the rules, could he end up being the gop nom

at this point ?

[cpompilo]

23. Good for him. He'll likely give the republicon nominee a run for the money in the also-ran category.

[LostOne4Ever]

26. Good I am sure he will siphon off a bunch of republicans

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]Cause he damn sure doesn't appeal to any democrats.[/font]

[still_one]

28. He might as well run for dog catcher, it will have the same impact on the election

[riversedge]

30. He is too self-rightous for me.

[still_one]

33. That is the least of his problems, I think

[NurseJackie]

37. Ego. Apparently, it's all about himself. He can't be a contender, so he wants to be a spoiler.

I think he's a bit too irrelevant to even come close to being a spoiler.

[chillfactor]

38. seems a waste of time and money to me...

he is not popular enough to garnish enough voting power....and just suggests what a loser he is...and that he will go to such great lengths to damage the party vote as a whole. I had hoped we would not have any nut cases on our side. Guess I was wrong.

[Zorra]

42. He sure as heck won't siphon off any of the Bernie vote. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

43. Why? Usually an independent candidate knows he can't win

but is trying to make a point. I don't know what Webb's "point" might be. Maybe he just thinks that because the Dems don't want him, maybe whatever little remains of the GOP that is not criminally insane might have him?

[onenote]

44. He's a neighbor and I've had some interesting conversations with him

And one on one he is decent guy -- down to earth, mows his own grass, etc.
But for the life of me I can't figure out why he's running. He hates politics. Hates campaigning and, in particular, fund raising. Hasn't even bothered to put a yard sign in his own lawn.

[winter is coming]

45. Who's gonna care? n/t

[Renew Deal]

46. Crazy. Why?

[in_cog_ni_to]

47. That's just stupid.

No one supports him. He doesn't pay attention to his SCIENTIFIC polls? I dunno - I see ego running amok here.

[LiberalArkie]

48. He would not pull any from the Democrats. Face any D that votes for him would have

normally voted for an R. So it would not be a loss to the Democratic side.

[workinclasszero]

49. Wow

Bet he gets a few hundred votes...somewhere lol

[NYCButterfinger]

50. He'll do well in Middle Village, Queens, places where

Democrats aren't doing well. These are working class areas.

[workinclasszero]

51. He's gonna pull more so called

Rayguns democrats than actual real democrats so this should hurt the teahaddists more than anything

[gopiscrap]

52. he's just pissed that he got

frozen out of the debate

[bigwillq]

53. Cool

Regardless of party, anyone that wants to run should. Let the people decide. #democracy

[BeyondGeography]

55. What an ass

[workinclasszero]

57. Who's sending him money?

Might as well just pull it outta your pocket and set it on fire for all the good it's gonna do lol

[gwheezie]

60. I know moderate gop

Who said if one of the extreme rw loons is nominated by the GOP they would vote for Webb. Also vets think we'll of him for his support of vets and his assessment of the Iraq folly. They would have no problem voting indie.

[Bleacher Creature]

61. I'm no stranger to the fainting couch. . .

but even I can't get terribly worked up over this one.