Jim Webb announces presidential run

Today's presidential bid announcement comes from former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who's decided to try his luck against Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley in seeking the Democratic nomination for president.

"Our country needs a fresh approach to solving the problems that confront us and too often unnecessarily divide us," Webb wrote in the full announcement on his website. A Vietnam veteran who also served as navy secretary under President Reagan, Webb's views can be unpredictable. After the allegedly racially motivated shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, for example, he defended the Confederate flag, instructing his followers on Facebook that they ought to "remember that honorable Americans fought on both sides of the Civil War."

Webb does, however, offer the most progressive stance on drug policies among his peers, having hinted at radical drug reforms when he spoke at the National Sheriffs' Association Conference in Baltimore on Tuesday.

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