Free Republic

While off-year elections suffer from a surfeit of interpretation, it’s hard not to see the victories of Christie and McAuliffe as sending a similar message: Republicans must be moderate to win. Mr. McAuliffe was a cipher of a candidate who was saved in the end by Mr. Cuccinelli’s reactionary social views. And Mr. Christie’s victory simply confirmed what we have known about Republicans in New Jersey since Clifford Case: Republicans must be moderates to win statewide. (See another governor named Christie Todd Whitman.) But while the lessons of the 2013 gubernatorial elections may seem obvious to many, Republican zealots are...

Boyd Marcus, the chief of staff for Cantor until 2003—who later teamed with another GOP operative Ray Allen to found the firm Marcus Allen, which Cantor employed until earlier this year—joined the McAuliffe campaign after Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, with whom Marcus campaigned, did not win the GOP nominee in Virginia. “I was looking at the candidates, and I saw Terry McAuliffe as the guy who will work with everybody to get things done,” Marcus told the Associated Press in August when he joined McAuliffe’s campaign. Cantor employed Marcus Allen until the day before Marcus left the firm to work

1. The Obamacare rollout fiasco and Obama's lies hurt Democrats. You only have to look at Democrat Terry McAuliffe's narrow 48 percent to 46 percent margin in Virginia to see that. McAuliffe outspent Republican Ken Cuccinelli by a wide margin (as much as 10-to-1, some bloggers suggested) and was leading 46 percent to 37 percent in the last days of October in the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls on Oct. 31. In Virginia, the state that voted closest to the national average in the last two presidential elections, McAuliffe ended up with 48 percent, 3 percentage points behind...

How the heck did that happen? Most public polls leading up to Election Day had Democrat Terry McAuliffe coasting to victory, some by double digits, in the Virginia governor’s race. Instead he squeaked by, beating Republican Ken Cuccinelli by less than 3 percentage points. -snip- McAuliffe outraised Cuccinelli by almost $15 million, and he used the cash advantage to pummel him on the airwaves. A lack of resources forced the Republican to go dark in the D.C. media market during the final two weeks. The Republican National Committee spent about $3 million on Virginia this year, compared to $9 million...

McLEAN, Va. -- Democrat Terry McAuliffe beat Republican Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia's governor race, outraising Cuccinelli nearly two-to-one and dominating in the richest part of the state. What’s going on here? First, upper-middle class, white suburbs have marched steadily toward the Democrats for several decades. Montgomery County, Md., and Arlington, Va., switched sides. So did the wealthy New York suburbs in Westchester County, N.Y., and Fairfield County, Conn. Philadelphia’s “collar counties," once Republican bastions, are now Democratic bellwethers. Why are the white-collar suburbs moving to the Dems? “I think it’s the social issues,” Bill DuBose tells me at Greenberry's coffee...

Republicans turned back several challenges by Democrats as the GOP retained a solid majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. Democrat Jeremy McPike narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Scott Lingamfelter in unofficial returns Tuesday, but several other Republicans survived and the GOP kept 10 seats vacated by Republicans.

TYSONS CORNER -- Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic fundraiser and confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton, will be Virginia's next governor after defeating his conservative opponent, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, on Tuesday in a race that confirmed the state's status as an increasingly blue battleground. The marquee contest was marked throughout by historically high spending, a relentless barrage of attacks on both sides and campaign trail cameos by some of the nation's most prominent political figures. With more than 99 percent of precincts reporting, McAuliffe led Cuccinelli by less than 2 percent — 48 percent to 46 percent — or...

Democrat Terry McAuliffe is projected to win the Virginia gubernatorial race, defeating Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli in a surprisingly close victory. Fox News projected McAuliffe as the winner Tuesday night. The closely watched raced pitted a Tea Party-backed Republican and an establishment Democrat locked in an expensive, ideological battle whose outcome is expected to set a course for the 2014 and 2016 elections -- in large part forcing the GOP to consider whether a strong conservative candidate is the party’s best pick to win a national election. Cuccinelli, trailing late by single digits, tried unsuccessfully to use voter dissatisfaction with...

Anyone waiting expectantly for Vice President Biden to name check President Obama at an election eve rally Monday went away disappointed. Besides singing the praises of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe at the Northern Virginia event, Biden mentioned Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner (favorably) and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (unfavorably). He singled out McAuliffe's Republican opponent, Ken Cuccinelli, by name. Biden even referred to his own wife and his father. But there was no mention of the president. Nor any mention of health care, aside from a reference to Cuccinelli's participation, as Virginia attorney general, in conservative efforts...

RICHMOND, Va. – With just one more day to go in the campaign, there is one group of voters that Republican Ken Cuccinelli needs to win over to become the next governor of Virginia: Female voters. He currently trails his Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe by 16 points among women. Carol Noggle, legislative coordinator of the League of Women Voters of Virginia, believes that women are likely to have a significant impact this year. “There were more women than men who are registering to vote,” Noggle said in a phone interview. “The higher turnout may be among women than men,” said...

ANNANDALE, Va. — Vice President Joe Biden on Monday delivered a closing pitch for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, painting the Virginia race as a major test of the mainstream electorate’s answer to a resurgent tea party. ”This race has captured the attention of the entire nation,” Biden said. “Not just because it’s a … race in a bellwether state that has become the face of progress in this country. But because it’s the first major race between the forces and faces of the new Republican tea party — a tea party whose social recidivism is only outgunned by its...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WTVR) – A new poll put Democrat Terry McAuliffe seven points ahead of Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the race for Virginia governor. The Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University poll has McAuliffe with a 45 – 38 percent lead over Cuccinelli. The poll gives Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis 10 percent of the vote. More than two-thirds of those who said they were voting for Sarvis called their vote a protest vote against the “major-party candidates.” [Snip] “Sarvis is particularly shaving the Republican vote: 37 percent of his voters say they would have voted for...

On Sunday, President Obama will travel to Northern Virginia to campaign for Democrat Terry McAuliffe. The Commonwealth Attorney for Loudon County, however, notes that the appearance may be a conflict of interest, given the federal investigations surrounding McAuliffe's business interests. "I’m amazed that President Obama will be campaigning for Mr. McAuliffe, both of whom have also been practicing attorneys," Commonwealth Attorney Jim Plowman said in an email. "It has been well publicized that Mr. McAuliffe and his business associates are currently embroiled in investigations by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Both of...

In the increasingly “purple” state of Virginia, it wasn’t long ago that former Democrat party national chairman and corrupt Clinton crony Terry McAuliffe(who has never been elected to any public office) enjoyed a rather comfortable double-digit lead in the polls against his chief opponent to be the next governor, Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. As recently as late October, polling by The Washington Post, Roanoke College, and Rasmussen had McAuliffe beating Cuccinelli by 12, 15, and 17 points, respectively. But all that has suddenly changed, and changed dramatically. The election is less than four days away–to be held on Tuesday...

On a conference call with reporters Friday afternoon, Republican Ken Cuccinelli said his campaign was closing aggressively and was "positioned to shock the political world" in Tuesday's Virginia election. Cuccinelli, who trails Democrat Terry McAuliffe in polling, said his campaign was beating their turnout and grass roots goals. Cuccinelli stressed repeatedly that President Obama's decision to campaign on Sunday with McAuliffe was a "great opportunity" for the Republican's campaign. "[The Democrats] are having a rally to celebrate ObamaCare," Cuccinelli said. He noted that he was the "first person in the country" to fight ObamaCare, referencing the fact that he was...

Is Ken Cuccinelli closing in on Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governor's race? The latest poll from Emerson College shows McAuliffe, the Democrat, with 42 percent support and Cuccinelli, the Republican, with 40 percent. Libertarian Robert Sarvis has 13 percent in the poll of 874 likely voters. The two-point lead for McAuliffe is the smallest he's had in any poll since September.

Young Americans are Taking an Active Pro-Life Stance Against Abortion by Shawn Carney | LifeNews.com | 11/1/13 10:00 AM“They’re so young!” That was the reaction of abortion advocate and former NARAL president Nancy Keenan when she walked out of Union Station in Washington, DC and saw the massive crowd at the March for Life.She’s right – the pro-life movement is young and that is encouraging news. It’s not hard to find the next generation of pro-lifers — at 40 Days for Life vigils!Enjoy this inspiring video from a 40 Days for Life event in Virginia attended by an entire school...

According to a new poll, Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s lead over Republican Ken Cuccinelli has shrunk to 2 points in the Virginia gubernatorial race (42% to 40%, with Libertarian Robert Sarvis at 13%). At the beginning of the month, McAuliffe was up five points (43% to 38%), suggesting Cuccinelli is gaining momentum going into the last weekend of the election. The survey was conducted October 25 to October 30, with 874 likely voters at a 3.24% margin of error. Despite his slim lead in the poll, 55 percent of Virginia likely voters believe that McAuliffe will be elected, with only 28...

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli does not follow the prototype of what a politician should be. In fact, he may be everything a politician should not be. He thinks outside the box and his brain is like a dictionary. Think “Encyclopedia Brown the Detective”; he deals in fact yet keeps things close to everyone’s hearts first. Oh–and he loves playing basketball. This white dude can jump. While he was a State Senator, I called Ken on various complaints and subjects within our neighborhood, from bullying in the schools to roads with crosswalks that went from 25 to 45 mph. I...

Things could look brighter for Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s attorney general and Republican gubernatorial nominee. You don’t have to be Nate Silver to figure out that the last few months’ polls have largely been bad news for him, ranging from not-optimal (not trailing as badly as he had been!) to apocalyptic. But Virginia Republicans are holding out hope, and conversations with a range of the Commonwealth’s political insiders show a broad consensus about the AG’s prospects: His chances of victory, while bleak, aren’t nonexistent. Here’s a potential path, as laid out by onlookers: First, insiders who spoke with National Review Online...