Virginia Sen. Jim Webb returns to thank coal miners for their support

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2007-09-16-0013.html

CASTLEWOOD, Va. – One year ago, political newcomer Jim Webb came here to ask Virginia’s United Mine Workers for their support in his uphill bid to unseat popular Republican George Allen in the U.S. Senate race.

Two months later, Webb became Virginia’s junior senator when his grass-roots campaign defeated Allen in what many termed the most important race in the nation in 2006.

Webb returned to Castlewood on Saturday to thank the union members and their families and said he would continue to be a voice for working people.

Webb, who will become Virginia’s senior senator in 2008 since Republican John Warner is retiring, recalled the importance of the union’s endorsement in a brief interview before he addressed hundreds of the region’s retired miners at the union’s 12th annual Freedom Fighter’s Fish Fry at the Russell County Fairgrounds.

"I’d never been in a campaign before," he said.

Webb said he knew he wanted to run to make a difference for working people, but he described his early fledgling campaign as working as well as building an airplane in the air. It was made even more difficult because he was running against a well-heeled political machine, he said.

FULL story at link.