How can you tell when someone really, really wants to be vice president?

He becomes very outgoing, and very sensitive, at the same time.

That’s what has happened with Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) lately.

I have not, in the past, been on the senator’s press mailing list. Nothing unusual there; I don’t cover him and don’t usually write about him.

But lately, his press office has wanted to make sure I know everything he’s doing.

Which TV shows will he visit? Which hearings will he attend? I’m getting frequent updates.

There are also signs Webb is paying a lot of attention to his press coverage — something I found out recently in an exchange I had with his communications director, Jessica Smith.

In late May, I wrote a brief item for The Corner, the group blog at National Review online.

I discussed the hard-hitting 2006 campaign in which Webb defeated then-Sen. George Allen (R-Va.).

I wrote that Webb liked to call Allen “George Felix Allen Jr.,” and I wondered what Webb thinks about those people who refer to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) by his full name.

I also discussed attempts by some Democrats to portray Allen as a sort of neo-Confederate, which struck me as pretty odd in light of Webb’s considerable pride in his own Confederate ancestry.

In 1990, Webb gave a very fine speech at the Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

He praised the courage of his forebears, and mentioned one named Robert E. Lee Webb.

It was, Webb said, “a name that my grandfather also held and which has passed along in bits and pieces through many others, such as my cousin, Roger Lee Webb … and my son, James Robert.”

So I wrote that “Webb’s son isn’t named Robert for nothing.”

Not long after, I received an e-mail from Smith.

“Sen. Webb’s son isn’t named Robert,” she wrote. “I know how difficult it must be to pass up an opportunity to rehash old material.”

A bit surprised, I looked back at the speech to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake.

“Did you read the excerpt from Sen. Webb’s speech?” I wrote Smith. “Did he have his son’s name wrong? I will correct if it is wrong.”

“His son’s name is Jimmy,” Smith responded.

“But was what the senator said in his speech about his son’s name correct?” I wrote back.

“Does it say James Robert?” Smith asked.

“Yes,” I wrote, including the speech excerpt plus an Internet address for the entire document.

That was the end of our correspondence; I didn’t hear anything more from Smith. I tell the story not because it is a burning issue but because it suggests that the Webb office is pretty sensitive these days.

And why would that be?

Well, Webb has a lot to recommend him as vice president.

His distinguished military record would give the Obama ticket desperately needed heft on national security issues.

He has won statewide, albeit narrowly, in Virginia, a state that the Obama campaign would dearly love to capture in November — just look at Obama’s decision to start his general-election campaign there.

And Webb is, in general, a smart and interesting fellow.

But that’s also the problem. If anyone defines the word “unpredictable,” it is Webb.

He won Democratic support for his opposition to the war, but on other subjects he can be quite un-Democratic.

My guess is he won’t get the job.

But if he does, the combination of the first African-American nominee with a true son of the Confederacy will be pretty darned interesting.

York is a White House correspondent for National Review. His column appears in The Hill each week. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it