Webb explores independent run

Jim Webb has hired a fund-raiser to help him launch a possible independent bid for the presidency.

Sam Jones, who previously led fund-raising efforts for a super PAC encouraging Vice President Biden to run for president, will now help the former Democratic senator from Virginia decide whether he can afford a campaign.

"After weeks of study, including consultations with ballot experts and independent activists across the country, we have a handle on what it takes to give voters in every state a real choice," Webb spokesman Craig Crawford said in a statement. Jones, he said, would help with the next step: "How to pay for it."

Jones called Webb "a bold and honest leader . . . who stands miles apart from the bitter theatrics we see before us today."

Webb dropped out of the presidential primary in October, saying he no longer felt comfortable running as a Democrat. His departure came after an underwhelming performance at the first Democratic debate, where he was challenged for being out of step with the Democratic base on affirmative action and gun control. Since then, he has been quietly gauging support for an independent bid.

A Vietnam War veteran who served as President Ronald Reagan's Navy secretary, Webb hopes to capitalize on an appeal that does not fall neatly into party lines. He has defended the Confederate flag and unions; he criticizes executive pay and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"The extremes that have taken over the nominating process have become glaringly obvious," he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed in October. "An independent president who can bring a broad spectrum of talent into a completely new administration would be best equipped to face the hard choices and to put our government back on track again."

But running as an independent presents immense challenges, especially for a candidate ambivalent about the slog of the presidential campaign trail.