Jim Webb has been on my radar since he was Secretary of the Navy in the Reagain Administration. At the time, he seemed to me to be a rare honest broker in administration full of connivers. (What gentlemen they were compared to the Bush crowd.)

Now he’s running against uber-rightwinger incumbent George Allen for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia. Because Allen is such an odious Bushite and since he plans to run for the prsidency in 2008 from his senate seat (and you gotta wonder how Virginians feel about that), an upset here would be — and I use this word advisedly — thrilling.

If it can be done, it wouldn’t surprise me that Webb could do it. He has also hired the new wunderkind of political consulting, Mudcat Saunders and Steve Jarding, who helped get Mark Warner elected governor of Virginia.

And he has the endorsement of Gen. Wesley Clark, who is one of the very few politicians I trust.

Here’s what he said about his campaign in an March 14, 2006, interview with Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, founder of DailyKos:

WEBB: We’re running on four themes, and the first one is to re-orient our national defense to a more traditional set of policies that truly relate to defending our interests abroad. I believe the Iraq War was a serious strategic error that has cost the nation a great deal in terms of blood, treasure and international respect. At the same time I am a realist when it comes to the legitimate need to defend our interests. These needs are sometimes strategic, and in rare instances (e.g., now, the need to root out international terrorism) related to direct combat. We need to begin a careful withdrawal from Iraq. The first step in doing so involves a clear signal to the region that we have no long-term interests in that country.

Read the interview here.