Jim Webb for vice president?

In response to my post about Jim Webb’s presidential prospects, a reader suggests that Webb may actually be angling for the vice presidency:

I wonder if Webb’s intent isn’t to become VP nominee. He simply informs Clinton, Warren, or whoever wins the nomination that they will not carry VA, NC, WV, & PA if he campaigns in those states for the Republican nominee which he will do if he is not named to number 2 slot.

The [Democrats] consider Webb eccentric enough to make good his threat. He knows there is no path to victory without VA & PA and no path to Republican victory without NC & WV.

You might think that it would create the most strained pres/VP relationship since Kennedy and Johnson. You would probably be right, but Webb just doesn’t care. He isn’t running for “friend.”

In my view, Webb can make a good case for inclusion on the Democrats’ 2016 ticket without resorting to threats. If Clinton is the nominee, Webb’s fiery populism would balance the ticket ideologically and perhaps appease the hard-left base.

If Warren is the nominee, Webb, with his military background and down-to-earth persona, might provide the illusion of gravitas and the common touch.

But here is the problem: if Webb is as insufferable and strong-willed as I think he is, no candidate for president would want him to be the vice president.

Could Webb strong arm his way onto the ticket? I doubt it. This one-term Senator, who narrowly won election in Virginia thanks to a Democratic wave and a terrible gaffe by his opponent, isn’t a kingmaker in Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, or Pennsylvania.

But perhaps he thinks he is.