Which is significant, especially considering that his name has been floated around as a very likely VP choice for Barack Obama. But while the Democratic nominee continues to oppose oil exploration on our own soil and in our own waters, Jim Webb took a big step to the right in siding with states being able to choose on their own.

By pushing a bill that distances himself from the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate on offshore drilling, Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia is picking a curious time to exercise his well-known independence.

Webb wants his home state to have the right to explore for energy off Virginia’s coast. His staff insists his proposal pertains only to natural gas, and not oil, and that it is completely in line with the state’s other two leading Democrats — Gov. Tim Kaine and former Gov. Mark Warner, who is running for Senate.

Yet by attaching his name to the bill, sponsored by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), Webb is taking a step away from Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the party’s presidential candidate, who opposes offshore drilling, and one closer to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP standard-bearer who recently called for lifting the federal ban.

As I wrote in Hot Air’s comment section, this definitely creates a problem for any possibly Obama-Webb ticket. While Webb would wrangle in blue collar workers and some moderates, gas prices and oil exploration will be big issues this year. It doesn’t help to have the P and VP on different sides of a major argument.

Add this to his opposition of factoring global warming into federal project planning, his history with arguing against women fighting in the military, his support for Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, his voting against the so-called “comprehensive immigration reform”, his support for “English First”, his support for eliminating a specific guest worker program, and his staunch support for gun rights and you could have a conflict or two.