Former Democratic Sen. Jim Webb has hired a communications director in advance of a bid for president in 2016.
Webb announced the hire of Craig Crawford, a journalist formerly of National Journal’s hotline and the Orlando Sentinel, on Twitter on Friday. In the tweet, Webb called Crawford a “journalist/political icon.”
The new addition to Webb’s team indicates he is likely to officially launch a presidential campaign this year. Webb previously announced in November that he would form an exploratory committee, thus allowing him to raise money for a bid before making it official.
But Webb has hardly been shy about his presidential ambitions, even with the dominant presence of Hillary Clinton looming over the likely Democratic field.
“I’m not running against Hillary Clinton,” Webb told Yahoo’s Matt Bai recently. Instead, Webb has sought to carve a niche for himself among working class, white Democrats who might be turned off by Clinton. He has also played up his military experience, which he detailed in a memoir published last year.
In addition to Crawford, Webb counts among his team the Democratic strategist Kristian Denny Todd, the wife of “Meet The Press” moderator Chuck Todd.
