How Could Webb Have Won This Year?

[White Trash]

Hypothetically, had Clinton not run or been indicted and the rest of the Democratic field remained the same I think Webb would've had a chance. Webb would've taken a good chunk of the Edwards/Clark voters plus a handful of Clinton voters. Martin O'Malley would like have become the "establishment" or the DNC choice. Sanders would be regulated to a Howard Dean level of support. Lessig and Chafee would have gone no where but would've waited until South Carolina or Nevada to drop out.

In short, the race becomes similar to 2004. With Sanders taking the Dean supporters and states. Martin O'Malley taking the African American vote and the Democratic establishment. Webb takes the moderate and centrist wing as well as a good helping of DINOs.

[White Trash]

The man Webb says he killed reveals himself to be alive and storms the first debate with the intention of finishing the job and destroying Democracy. While the other candidates cower, Webb engages the man in a brutal hand to hand fight that ends with him stuffing a grenade down the guy's throat and tossing him away from the crowd.

It seems churlish not to give him the nomination after that, and voters otherwise attracted to Trump's tough talk flock to Webb. He wins a resounding landslide.

Immediately after being sworn in, President Webb leads an expedition overseas to combat Isis. Vice (Now Acting) President Hillary Clinton applauds his bravery.

Webb would lead the charge on horseback, M60 strapped to his back and broadsword held aloft!

[White Trash]

Hypothetically, had Clinton not run or been indicted and the rest of the Democratic field remained the same I think Webb would've had a chance.

No way would the rest of the field have remained the same if Clinton hadn't run.  At least a half dozen additional candidates would have been in the race without her.

And there is no way they would've done any better than the rest of the field. The only people I could see jumping in would be either Tammy Baldwin or Evan Bayh. Maybe Tim Kaine. Maybe. But they would've done as well as the Republican establishment in the GOP primary. 1% or 2% with maybe a little support in their home states.

Now I know some feller is just jumping at me to say Biden. But I think if Biden could've won, he would've this time around. Biden right now just doesn't have the emotional strength to do it (loss of his son) and is trying to smooth the Presidency's relations with the congress. Biden knows he can make more of a difference staying as the Vice President, then he could've as a candidate.

[White Trash]

He couldn't have won but he could have done way better. Rather than flip flop on affirmative action (which pleased no one), he should have stuck to his guns, opposed affirmative action, talked about poor White people, said All Lives Matter, and been the anti-political correctness candidate. He would have at least broke 10% in the polls and probably won Oklahoma, come in second in Florida, and stand a good chance of winning West Virginia. Again, he wouldn't win the nomination but he would be more famous. Maybe people would actually take his threat of a third party run seriously (not that he'd win there either, but he could break 5%, maybe get Trumps endorsement if Cruz wins the GOP nom). Then he could write books, get a talk show. Which would all be pretty good, compared to reality where he is a total non-entity.

This. Also, run heavily in states like OK, FL, SC, and etc. A combination of the Schweitzer western vote and the conservadem/centrist vote in the South and Midwest would have been enough, especially if he only campaigned heavily in South Carolina and did OK there.

He could've afforded to lightly contest Iowa, concede New Hampshire and set up camp in South Carolina.

[White Trash]

Hypothetically, had Clinton not run or been indicted and the rest of the Democratic field remained the same I think Webb would've had a chance.

No way would the rest of the field have remained the same if Clinton hadn't run.  At least a half dozen additional candidates would have been in the race without her.

And there is no way they would've done any better than the rest of the field. The only people I could see jumping in would be either Tammy Baldwin or Evan Bayh. Maybe Tim Kaine. Maybe. But they would've done as well as the Republican establishment in the GOP primary. 1% or 2% with maybe a little support in their home states.

Plenty of additional candidates would have gotten more than 1 or 2% in a Clinton-less field.  Both Gillibrand and Klobuchar, for example, were laying the groundwork for a run back when Clinton looked more uncertain about whether she'd pull the trigger.  You don't think the "it's time for a woman" sentiment among many Dem. primary voters would have been worth more than a few percent?

I'm sure it would've. But let's say McCaskill, Warren, Gillibrand AND Klobuchar run. What is there to set them apart? I'm not saying that they are identical, far from it. But they will run into the same problems the GOP establishment ran into. They will all seem like minor variations of the same flavor. Voters will flock to people like Sanders, or Webb, or Trump because they have something that makes them stick out from the rest.

[White Trash]

He was rising in the polls because people were calling him a racist. Whenever a US politician gets called a racist, their poll numbers go up. Either because of the country's entrenched racism or because of a backlash against political correctness (probably a combination of both). Regardless, Webb wasn't trying to be racist (he was trying really hard to go the other direction) and he didn't like being called a racist, so he dropped out instead.

I do think it's funny that Webb was called a racist. He's married to a woman of another race. I'm confident that the people calling him that also defend some of Bill Clinton's more unsavory comments.

[White Trash]

He was rising in the polls because people were calling him a racist. Whenever a US politician gets called a racist, their poll numbers go up. Either because of the country's entrenched racism or because of a backlash against political correctness (probably a combination of both). Regardless, Webb wasn't trying to be racist (he was trying really hard to go the other direction) and he didn't like being called a racist, so he dropped out instead.

No, he was rising in the polls because the debate happened, and people realized that there were other candidates besides Clinton and Sanders, and that one of these people wasn't either an incompetent joke or a random former governor.

He was rising in the polls because people were calling him a racist. Whenever a US politician gets called a racist, their poll numbers go up. Either because of the country's entrenched racism or because of a backlash against political correctness (probably a combination of both). Regardless, Webb wasn't trying to be racist (he was trying really hard to go the other direction) and he didn't like being called a racist, so he dropped out instead.

I do think it's funny that Webb was called a racist. He's married to a woman of another race. I'm confident that the people calling him that also defend some of Bill Clinton's more unsavory comments.

I'm sure he had several black friends as well.

This idea that doing one non-racist thing absolves one of being racist stems from the idea that being a racist means you're a neo-Nazi member of the KKK who wants to torture and kill everyone who isn't a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. That's not what the word "racist" means.

I'm not necessarily saying Webb was racist though; I don't really know that much about him.

This isn't comparable to the whole "My best friend is black" cover. He committed his domestic life to someone of another race, lives with someone of another race, sees them every single day of his life. Of course that doesn't absolve him of any possible racism, but it does lend credence to those saying he isn't racist. I imagine it would be very difficult to be bigoted and concerned about the cultural future of the white race, when you yourself are race mixing. I'm not saying that just because he married an Asian women it is now impossible for him to be racist, it's just a hell of a lot more difficult.

That's just my two cents on the subject.