Former senator Jim Webb launched a new website Tuesday and said he's still "looking at this issue" of running for president next year.
Webb, who represented Virginia in the Senate from 2007-2013, told reporters he and his assembled team of potential campaign staffers are "carefully and methodically" weighing his White House aspirations, according to
the Wall Street Journal.
"I'm looking at this issue in terms of whether this is something that I can fully commit myself to, and we're also trying to figure out if we can get the sort of financial support," said Webb, a Democrat.
Webb announced two weeks after November's midterm elections
he was forming an exploratory committee for a potential presidential run. He has yet to make a final decision, but the Journal report says he is starting to ramp up preparations that could lead to a campaign.
Webb spoke at an event Tuesday sponsored by the International Association of Fire Fighters in Washington, D.C., and next month he's slated to travel to Iowa. Trips to South Carolina and New Hampshire are also on his schedule over the next few months.
"In terms of the visits, we're a little bit behind, but in terms of putting together the structure that will allow us to make a decision, we're right where I want to be," Webb said in the Journal story.
Webb's team launched a new website,
webb2016.com, that reads "Jim Webb 2016" on the homepage.
Webb spent four years in the Marines and served one tour in Vietnam. Injuries forced him to retire from the military, and later he entered politics. He was the assistant secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs under President Ronald Reagan from 1984-1987 and then served as secretary of the Navy from 1987-1988.
Webb drew parallels between his military service and the work of firefighters during his Tuesday speech.
"I suppose there are a lot of people who can say that they've seen firefighters fight a fire. But there aren't very many who can say they've fought a fire," said Webb, according to the Journal. "When I was in the Senate, a lot of my colleagues liked to point out how many times they'd been to Iraq and Afghanistan. But watching a war isn't the same thing as fighting a war."
If Webb decides to enter the presidential race, Hillary Clinton could be his foe for the Democrat nomination. Despite
an ongoing scandal revolving around the use of a private e-mail server during her time as secretary of State, Clinton could still decide to run.
Clinton
leads in every poll of potential Democrats for president, and still has the backing of
several prominent donors.
Webb, on the other hand, has stayed under the radar — like most of the other potential candidates on the left. The 69-year-old said last month he would only join the race for the White House
"under the right circumstances."
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