Posted on 05/05/2013 9:21:30 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It's still early yet, but at the last count, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe were basically neck-and-neck in 2013's only competitive gubernatorial contest, with a lot of Virginians still pretty much unfamiliar with/uninterested in the race so far. In the latest Washington Post poll, however, things might be starting to shift ever so slightly, and in Cuccinelli’s direction:
Six months before Election Day, Cuccinelli (R) has a slender 46 to 41 percent edge over McAuliffe (D) among all Virginia voters and a significant 51 to 41 percent lead among those who say they’re certain to cast ballots in November. But those numbers may change before then: The poll found that barely 10 percent say they are following the campaign “very closely” and that nearly half of the electorate says they’re either undecided or could change their minds. …
Having never held office, McAuliffe is the lesser-known quantity in this year’s contest, giving both sides the opportunity to try to define him in coming months. Fully 70 percent of Virginia voters say they know “just a little” or “nothing at all” about him or his qualifications to be governor. Even 65 percent of Democrats know little about the party’s nominee.
There is also broad uncertainty about Cuccinelli — 52 percent of voters say they know little about his qualifications — but the public continues to give a more positive than negative assessment of his work as attorney general. About 54 percent of voters say that he has “high personal moral and ethical standards,” about triple the number saying that he does not.
The biggest takeaway is probably that most Virginians still have yet to start paying much attention, but Cuccinelli already has very staunch support from the GOP base while McAuliffe is still more of an unknown and is currently underperforming with the Democratic constituencies that helped President Obama take the commonwealth in 2008 and 2012.
There’s still plenty of purplish public opinion for the taking, and both campaigns are all set to get things going in earnest; each camp got their first television ads rolling this past week, and McAuliffe started his campaign-trailing today, kicking things off in Norfolk:
Democrat Terry McAuliffe officially starts his campaign this week with a series of public events in which he will discuss a variety of policy issues. The businessman will talk about transportation Sunday at the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center in Norfolk.
Then on Monday, McAuliffe will join U.S. Senator Tim Kaine at an event in Richmond, where the two will discuss community colleges. He’ll also appear at events in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg.
Cuccinelli is a conservative heavyweight from what I’ve seen. He would be a fighter for sure methinks!
Go Cuccinelli!!!!!
The Wash Post ran this on page A1 above the fold to scare the voters and get the Democrats working harder.
I wouldn’t put much into it right now. The democrats have a large army of illegal aliens who vote in Virginia elections. SEIU and like groups have been registering them for years now.
This race has pretty much been Cuccinelli’s to lose. Barring a disaster, I doubt he’ll win by anything less than a 10% margin.
Exactly. The WaPo looks as though it may get as “involved” in this race as they did in webb vs. allen in 2006
And if they knew more, they would have been out frantically trying to draft someone else to run.
And 1000000000000 times better than that snake McDonnell. I swear, if that sewer rat shows his face in 2016....
Cuccinelli is going to win. No question.
I expect McDonnell to run against Warner next year.
After the biggest tax increase in Virginia’s history, he’ll be lucky to find passionate supporters outside those who have “Rove.com” as their homepage.
Warner’s seat is probably going to be harder to get than Udall’s anyway.
“Cuccinelli is going to win. No question.’
I pray you’re right!
The other guy’s embroiled in some scandal involving him leaving some family member in the hospital to go fundraise. Typical Democrat.
Which Udall ? The one in Colorado should be beatable next year with the CO Dems going full moonbat, more so than his cousin in NM, who is also up. Targeting Warner is still paramount.
NM is out of play.
I think the senator in Colorado will be a tough race, partly because we are lacking credible challengers. Right now, the most likely and tangible candidate would be Attorney General John Suthers, but he hasn’t declared whether he is running yet. If there is a backlash against the moonbats, we could have a shot, but the question is, how sick of progressive utopianism are Coloradans?
Warner has been rated as being “safe” by most election-watchers because of high approval ratings. He wouldn’t be impossible to unseat, but I’d say much more credible chances can be found in Alaska and North Carolina, perhaps even Iowa and Michigan. I’m not sure why however. Warner is as big a rat as they come. What has happened to Virginia?
He’d be a shoo in if most of my neighbors here in No. Va weren’t intellectually slow and voted for the big D no matter who was running.
Well, NM, CO & VA all have one thing in common... their Senators are execrable across the board. Still, we would be remiss to give any of said incumbents a pass. The thing is to tie Mark Udall to the anti-gun extremists in the state (ditto Hickenlooper, who is also up for reelection).
The GOP blew premier opportunities in 2010 in CO by putting up weak or terrible & untested candidates. Both the Senate & Gov candidates should’ve been bounced. I suggested bringing in highly popular elder statesmen like Bill Armstrong & Hank Brown to run in their places, as both would’ve easily prevailed. Even Jane Norton would not have blown the race like Buck did for the Senate against a nobody Dem placeholder. Inexcusable.
A good test will be if those recall elections are successful. If they are, the Dems are in big trouble, and only a repeat of GOP incompetence could save them.
As for VA, the Warner-McDonnell showdown has been expected from the time the latter won the Governorship. What’s happened to VA politically is that the state’s proximity to DC has seen NoVA turn a bright shade of Communist Red (sorry, kids, I don’t use the newspeak colors - blue is GOP, not Dem). 20 or so years ago, those suburban counties were reliably Republican (and had been since they turned out old-line Segregationist Dems like Howard Smith in the ‘60s). But with the rise of the overpaid and overperked big gubmint workers, those taxpayer funded millionaires are voting for their bennies, not for what’s right. I know, since I have relatives there and the one highly-paid fella doesn’t want the gravy train to end.
Isn’t is amusing to see McAuliffe described as a businessman in that article. Good grief, he has nothing to do with real business. He is a political hack and his only business is milking the government cow.
bump
Yes, Virginia is definitely changing, with lots of “1%er” DemonRat types. It’s almost the anti-Louisiana, where the hurricane emptied the population of poor minority voters who propped up Landrieu.
You’re right, that we shouldn’t pass on any chances. We’ll need backup states in case one of our easy ones implodes unexpectedly. The nutjobs in Colorado have destroyed that state within months, and if the recall movement pans out, the rats will know their ship is sinking. If only Kalifornians would wake up to their own torture under liberals.
WaPo endorsed the Republican candidate in the recent city Council special election. Even splitting his vote among several liberal white candidates, the black Barry candidate won. WaPo is loosing its liberal objectivity.
I’m shocked that a WAPO poll shows the Republican with a 10 point lead (likely voters?).
Thanks to Obama winning history is on our side, 1973 was the last time the President’s party won the Governorship. My confidence for this race went way up when Bolling decided against an dependent bid. There was this one VA freeper who said Cuccinelli was certain to lose. Maybe he was a Bolling staffer.
McDonnell better run for the Senate, I don’t think we can beat Warner otherwise.
There’s a crowed GOP primary for LT Governor, RINO Tom Davis’ wife Jeannemarie Devolites is one of the candidates.
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