Jim Webb considering independent run

by Ben Kamisar - 10/19/15 5:17 PM ET

Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb will consider an independent bid for president amid protests by the candidate that the Democratic Party rigged last week’s debate for Hillary Clinton.

Webb’s campaign emailed out details to a press conference for Tuesday at the National Press Club with the subject line: “Jim Webb to consider independent run.” During last week’s debate, he only had the chance to speak for 15 minutes compared to about 30 minutes for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, according to NPR.

“It was rigged in terms of who was going to get the time on the floor by the way that Anderson Cooper was selecting people to supposedly respond to something someone else said,” Webb told the audience last week at an event for the Council on Foreign Relations.

“It’s very difficult to win a debate when you don’t have the opportunity to speak the same amount of time on issues as the other two did.”

Webb, a Vietnam veteran and former senator from Virginia, is averaging just over 1 percent in an average of recent polls, according to a RealClearPolitics analysis. That’s ahead of both former Govs. Martin O’Malley (Md.) and Lincoln Chafee (R.I.).

Tags Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton