Off the wire
• Spanish stock market falls 0.6 pct, closes at 10,846 points  • Roundup: Iran, IAEA agree to set timetable to resolve technical nuke issues: president  • Cyprus offers tax breaks to attract rich foreigners  • Feature: Pop star Ricky launches 10-minute "shake-up" drive to tackle childhood obesity  • Putin to meet Iran's President Rouhani at SCO summit next week  • Commentary: Greek gov't leading country on unknown adventure  • Nigeria on alert after Ebola resurfaces in Liberia  • Failure of isolation policy leads to U.S. thawing ties with Cuba: experts  • Urgent: Oil prices fluctuate amid Greek worries  • 1st LD Writethru: Gold down on weaker-than-expected U.S. payrolls report  
You are here: 　 Home

Former Democratic Senator Jim Webb announces 2016 presidential run

Xinhua, July 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

Former Virginia senator Jim Webb on Thursday announced his 2016 presidential run to challenge the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the one-term senator who retired in 2013 called for a "fresh approach" to solving the problems facing the country. However, Webb was facing long odds of defeating Clinton or other Democratic candidates, with polls putting him in low single digits.

"I understand the odds, particularly in today's political climate where fair debate is so often drowned out by huge sums of money," said Webb in the statement. "Highly paid political consultants are working to shape the 'message' of every major candidate."

A decorated war veteran who served in the Vietnam War, Webb has for long been criticizing the Iraq war. As early as 2002, Webb warned that "those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exist strategy if we invade." Endite