"Democrats Al Weed of Nelson County and James Webb of Fairfax County campaigned together in Charlottesville on Friday, with Weed touting Webb as the stronger potential running mate on the Nov. 7 ballot.

“What I want to do is bring people back to the Democratic Party,” Webb told a room full of 75 Democrats at Miller’s restaurant on the Downtown Mall.

“Jim Webb will be able to help them make that transition” back to voting for Democrats again, Weed said of many rural Virginians and other former Democrats who left the party but now are fed up with President Bush.

Webb, who faces Harris Miller in the June 13 Democratic U.S. Senate primary for the right to challenge U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Fairfax County, said he felt “really privileged” to have the endorsement of Weed.

Weed, a Nelson vineyard owner, is the Democratic nominee challenging 5th District Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount.

“I believe the Senate election [in November] is going to be decided in the 5th, the 6th and the 9th” congressional districts from Central Virginia to Southwest Virginia, Webb said.

Those rural districts from Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna and Greene to Lee County are “where George Allen has traditionally been strong, and we’re not going to yield one inch to him,” said Webb, an author and former Republican who served as Navy secretary under President Reagan.

Webb answered questions from Democrats and sought to reassure them that he is a loyal Democrat returning to the fold.

“The primary is totally unpredictable,” Webb said of his small-turnout battle concluding in 10 days with Miller, a former Fairfax Democratic Party chairman who has worked as a Washington lobbyist for the technology industry.

“I’m an Andrew Jackson-Harry Truman Democrat,” Webb told the crowd. “What I mean by that is you measure the health of a society not by what’s happening at the top but by what’s happening by the people who are down there working at the base.”

Several people asked him to explain what makes him a Democrat.

“On every issue I think that’s important to Democrats, I stand with the Democrats,” Webb said. “I am pro-union. I am pro-choice. I have taken a hard stand on gay rights. I was one of the first people to speak against the Iraq war. I am essentially a realist on foreign policy, a moderate on social policy and a populist on economic policy.”

Webb said the cost of a barrel of oil “has tripled since we went into Iraq” and he views the American military presence there as a strategic mistake, while other Democrats view it as a moral mistake.

He said he would not say much yet about news reports that a group of Marines killed innocent civilians in Iraq in November and that the incident had been covered up.

“I think that it’s inappropriate to speculate on that until the facts come out,” Webb said." (Bob Gibson, The Daily Progress, June 3, 2006)

Contact Bob Gibson at (434) 978-7243 or bgibson@dailyprogress.com.