The stage for the Democratic Party held a declared socialist, an undeclared socialist, a former governor who taxed rainfall, someone whose issue was bringing the metric system to America, and a former Republican. Jim Webb is the former Republican. He is also known as a very common-sense politician who tends to be toward the middle of the political spectrum. USA Today posted an article today stating that Jim Webb has dropped out of the Democratic race for President and is considering a run as an independent.

So what are the implications of this? First of all, I suspect Jim Webb has already received a number of telephone calls from major Democrats asking him not to run as an independent. His running as an independent would give moderate Democrats an option in the Presidential race. If the Democrats feel sufficiently threatened by Jim Webb as an independent candidate, I am sure he will be told that he is a contender for Vice President.

I seriously doubt that Jim Webb will run as an independent. Although I respect him as an independent thinker, the amount of pressure brought to bear to prevent that run will, I believe, prevent him from running.

However, this has been a very unpredictable election cycle. Stay tuned.