Looks like Sen. James Webb is as happy as a Republican that a federal court struck down D.C.'s handgun ban:

A top aide to Sen. James Webb was charged yesterday with trying to carry a loaded pistol and extra ammunition into a Senate office building, U.S. Capitol Police said.

The staffer, Phillip Thompson, told police that the gun belonged to Webb (D-Va.), authorities said. Thompson also said he forgot that the gun was in a briefcase and meant no harm, they said. [snip]

Police also found two fully loaded magazines, officials said.

A loaded pistol and "two fully loaded magazines"? Folks expected Webb to be a bit unorthodox, but in a fun, John-McCain-"Maverick" kind of way. Packing heat on the way to the airport is not what Democrats had in mind.

I suspect, however, that this won't generate much more than minor alarm, insofar as Webb's name has been thrown around as a possible vice president candidate. (And I also suspect reporters are terrified of Webb -- "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?") Now, if Webb were a Republican the reaction would be very different...

At the same time, you have to wonder what the left thinks of all this. The "Daily Kos" crowd enthusiastically supported Webb's campaign to unseat one-time presidential hopeful George Allen last year, despite being fully aware that Webb wasn't, uh, "with them" on all the issues, which is putting it mildly. Let's remember that as Navy Secretary under Ronald Reagan, Webb resigned because the administration wouldn't follow his advice to build a bigger navy.

Webb talks like a liberal these days on certain economic matters, but otherwise he's much more of a Pat Buchanan-type opponent of the war than a Dennis Kucinich-type. And last I checked the left still despised Buchanan. It will be interesting to watch the relationship between Webb and the left unfold in the next year or so, especially if the rumors of Webb being vice presidential material become more than gossip.

One could make the case that the left likes Webb because he's an antiwar Democrat who appeals to independents and some Republicans. But neither party's base is particularly known for picking favorites based on electability alone. Purity and passion for the cause is what the base wants and conceivably there could come a day when the left won't forgive Webb's unorthodox ways.

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