Former Democratic Sen. Jim Webb, who recently launched an exploratory committee for a White House run, has hired liberal journalist Craig Crawford as his communications director,
Politico reported.
Crawford headed National Journal's Hotline, a political tipsheet, for six years before leaving in 2003. After leaving Hotline, he worked as an MSNBC commentator and wrote a column for Congressional Quarterly.
In November, Webb announced he would form an
exploratory committee, allowing him to raise money for a White House run without officially announcing his candidacy.
Kristian Denny Todd, the Democratic strategist and wife of "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd, is also working with Webb as he considers a 2016 presidential bid.
Webb has staked out positions to the left of Democratic Party presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton on foreign policy, where he is expected to appeal to voters who fault the former Secretary of State for supporting President Obama's conduct of the fight against jihadist terror.
And on economic issues, he has emphasized anti-Wall Street themes and complaints that "the inequalities between top and bottom in our country are greater than at any time in the last hundred years."
But he has also taken some positions that could anger significant portions of the Democratic Party's left-wing base.
In a recent interview with Matt Bai of
Yahoo News, Webb said Democrats have focused so much of their rhetoric and advocacy on racial minorities that they've basically forgotten about white, working-class voters who share many of the same problems.
"I think this is where Democrats screw up, you know?" Webb said. "I think that they have kind of unwittingly used this group, white working males, as a whipping post for a lot of their policies. And then when they react, they say they’re being racist."
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