Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's White House buzz got a boost Wednesday with word that donors and Clinton partisans would meet Friday for a New York City planning confab. But hours later Jim Webb, a former one-term Virginia senator, sucked all the oxygen out of her news cycle with word that he had launched a presidential exploratory committee. Only months ago the 2016 Democratic presidential campaign season was seen as a formality, a drawn-out Clinton coronation. But now there's another voice in the conversation, and it may appeal to right-leaning Democrats: Webb was once Secretary of the Navy during Ronald Reagan's presidency.
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Hundreds of high-dollar Clinton donors will hear from 'Ready for Hillary' leaders and Democratic Party luminaries Friday in New York
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News was overshadowed by former Sen. Jim Webb's launch of a formal committee to assess his chances if he runs against her in the primaries
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Webb is a Vietnam War veteran who was Navy Secretary under President Ronald Reagan and served a single term in the US Senate from Virginia
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Clinton could use Webb as a right-wing foil in the Democratic primary season, positioning herself as a centrist by comparison
Not happening again: Bill Clinton campaigned with Webb for a @placeholder seat in 2006, but the former president will have other priorities in 2016