May was an impressive month for Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va). He published his ninth book, watched his prized veterans’ benefits bill pass the Senate, did the round of TV talk shows and ended the month burnishing his place on the Democratic short list for vice president.

He’s aware of the speculation, but he’ll have none of it. He won’t answer inquiries about being on the ticket and has yet to endorse either Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

 “I made my living as a writer, and that’s one thing Barack and I have in common,” said the 62-year-old junior senator from Virginia. “We write our own books.”

Whether he wants to talk about it or not, Webb continues to be discussed as a running mate, specifically for Obama. He offers plenty to balance the Illinois Democrat’s weaknesses — Webb is a decorated Vietnam veteran, a pro-gun former Republican who worked in the Reagan White House and who could help deliver Virginia into the Democratic column.

Perhaps most important is his appeal to rural and working-class white voters, one of two groups Obama has struggled to win over.

But Obama also needs to improve his appeal with female voters, and Webb may be a liability in this area. Webb’s prior military fiction books contain a handful of sexual passages, which drew attention in the 2006 campaign. Webb defends the passages as realistic and notes the books received praise from respected newspapers.

Webb also has shown he has a temper. He had a hostile exchange with President Bush at the White House in November 2006, and a sharp argument with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), an ally of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), where the two raised their voices and talked over each other on “Meet The Press” in July 2007.

There have been other headlines. An aide was also arrested in March 2007 for trying to carry Webb’s handgun into the Russell Senate Office Building; Webb issued a defensive statement lauding his strong support of gun rights. The charges were later dropped, and some speculate that could help a Democratic candidate with gun owners.

Some think Webb’s shortcomings will keep him from making the final cut.

“He’ll make a lot of lists,” said Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report. “But in the end, I’ll be surprised if he gets picked. What can Webb give you that [former Georgia Democratic Sen.] Sam Nunn couldn’t, and with less risk?”

Still, the most recent chapter of Webb’s own story has been a remarkable one. Last week alone, Webb added his first significant legislative victory: a $52 billion GI Bill to improve educational benefits offered to U.S. veterans over those of the original GI Bill of 1944. The bill, which Webb began drafting even before he took office, passed the Senate on a 75-22 vote as part of the $165 emergency war-spending bill. President Bush and McCain opposed both Webb’s legislation and its amendment to the supplemental. Instead, Bush and McCain support a more limited, $38 billion GI bill, although White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said Bush is committed to “expanding and strengthening” it.

Matching his public statements, Webb’s book is harshly critical of the Bush administration’s stewardship of the Iraq war, and in particular the lack of accountability for misdeeds by U.S. civilian contractors, which “falls somewhere between incompetence and actionable negligence.”

Webb’s disdain for Bush reached perhaps its most dramatic moment at a post-election reception at the White House in 2006. When the president asked Webb how his son, a Marine serving in Iraq, was doing, Webb reportedly replied, “That’s between me and my boy, Mr. President.”

His son, James Jr., is now enrolled in an ROTC officer training program at the University of Maryland. James Webb still has an active-duty commitment, however, and could potentially return to Iraq.

Webb, who was secretary of the Navy under President Reagan, is building his Senate career as Republican Sen. John Warner, Virginia’s senior senator, is ending his. Webb actually worked for Warner at one point, when Webb was a Marine Corps captain during Warner’s tenure as Navy secretary from 1972 to 1974. The two worked together again recently on the GI Bill.

“He’s a good man,” Warner said.

Maverick Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska has also known Webb for decades, since Hagel’s days as deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration. A fellow Vietnam veteran, Hagel bonded with Webb in the late 1970s while the two worked together on veterans’ issues.

“There’s no one I respect more,” Hagel says of Webb. “Jim Webb is passionate. He believes deeply and strongly in his causes. He’s always for the underdog, for the disadvantaged. An awful lot about him is just as strong today as it was 30 years ago.”