Free Republic

“Bobby Jindal and his political team totally blew it,” harrumphed one advisor for Ken Cuccinelli the morning after a closer-than-expected loss. Cuccinelli, who narrowly lost last night’s gubernatorial election to Terry McAuliffe, was badly outspent in the days and weeks leading up to the election. The New York Times‘ Jonathan Martin described Cuccinelli’s plight as having been “close to abandoned at the end.” He was. As Politico’s James Hohmann reported, ”The Republican National Committee spent about $3 million on Virginia this year, compared to $9 million in the 2009.” And as the Roanoke Times noted, in 2009, the Chamber of...

There was a time I called myself a Libertarian. And there was a time I was a Libertarian. I just wanted to get government to leave me alone, to leave people alone and to go all crazy and limit itself to doing only that which is spelled out clearly in the Constitution. That was what a Libertarian was. But it’s not anymore. The word no longer has any meaning, no definition or parameters, certainly no coherent philosophy to speak of. And there’s no one to blame for that except Libertarians themselves. So what happened? By not even loosely defining...

Reagan conservative Ken Cuccinelli lost his bid for the Virginia governorship because the patrician, turf-protecting Republican Party establishment in his state wanted him to lose. It's really that simple.  Cuccinelli campaign strategist Chris La Civita suggested on election night Tuesday that the federal government's partial shutdown last month may have hurt his candidate in parts of Virginia where many federal employees and contractors live. He also suggested that Cuccinelli could have won if he had received more money from national GOP sources, which he said dried up as of Oct. 1. "There are a lot of questions people are going...

A long and contentious campaign ended late Tuesday with a narrow victory by Terry McAuliffe. But as Wednesday dawned, many Virginians may still not know what to expect from the next governor, since negative ads during the campaign seemed to crowd out both candidates' platforms. McAuliffe likely has some challenges ahead. He's never held public office, and many Virginia lawmakers perceive him as an outsider. What's more, Republicans maintained their strong majority in Virginia's House of Delegates, which means McAuliffe will have to figure out how to cooperate with the GOP if he has any hope of success. We talked...

The center of gravity in American politics moved left in Tuesday’s off-year elections. Republicans took a big step back from the tea party. An ebullient progressive was elected mayor of New York City. And a Democrat was elected governor of Virginia after campaigning unapologetically as a supporter of gun control and a liberal on social issues. The one bright spot for Republicans, Chris Christie’s landslide reelection in New Jersey, was won precisely because Christie ran briskly away from the party’s right wing and developed a civil relationship with President Obama. His victory speech spoke of the need for politicians to...

Tea Party favorite Ken Cuccinelli, abandoned by the Republican establishment as too "extreme" to win in Virginia, crushed Democrat Terry McAuliffe among independent voters by 9 percentage points, 47%-38%. The key to McAuliffe's victory was that the Democrat--assisted by the ruthless data-mining operation that fueled Barack Obama's 2012 re-election--turned out his party's base, while conservative voters were divided. Cuccinelli's winning margin among independent voters was only slightly lower than Mitt Romney's 12-point margin in 2012. Romney also lost the state, however, after failing to bring conservative voters to the polls and mounting a lackluster a get-out-the-vote operation that was badly...

My wife Beth and I went to vote yesterday at our usual polling place on the University of Virginia campus. I went with no enthusiasm, more out of a sense of duty, I suppose, and of bearing witness. Outside the polling place were two pavilions for last minute canvassing. The Republican tent was, characteristically, empty, while the Democrat team, with blue and green McAuliffe banners flying, looked cool and smug. For good reason. They had waged a ruthless, vicious, dishonest and brilliant campaign-- not just to elect Terry McAuliffe governor but to discredit and destroy the Virginia Republican Party, and...

If a Democrat wins in Virginia, Chris Christie wins in New Jersey........ The polls indicate so called "moderate democrat" will get redstate Virginia, and so called "moderate republican" will survive in a bluestate.

Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning, NBC's Chuck Todd reported that New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie refused to campaign for Ken Cuccinelli, the Virginia Republican who narrowly lost his own governor's race to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. "They begged Christie, and you can make an argument," Todd said on Morning Joe. "That to bring a Chris Christie to Northern Virginia might have helped. But Chris Christie is worried about his own brand."

Democrat Terry McAuliffe won the Virginia governor’s race on Tuesday, in a surprisingly close victory over Republican rival Ken Cuccinelli -- who was heavily outspent and trailed in the polls for much of the race. With nearly all precincts reporting, McAuliffe was ahead with just 48 percent of the vote, to Cuccinelli’s 45 percent. Though McAuliffe previously held a double-digit lead, exit polls showed voters opposed to the federal health care law overwhelmingly backed Cuccinelli, helping him narrow the gap on Tuesday.

By electing Democrat Terry McAuliffe yesterday, Virginia residents narrowly avoided life under one of the most radically anti-choice candidates in recent history, Ken Cuccinelli. (He has compared abortion to slavery.) Thank God women turned out at the polls to defend reproductive justice, just like in 2012, right? Not exactly. The New York Times broke down exit polls by gender and ethnicity, revealing a majority of white women — 54 percent — voted for Cuccinelli, patron of crisis pregnancy centers. Meanwhile, a whopping 91 percent of black women and 90 percent of black men voted for McAuliffe. According to the Daily...

I've been following it all day watching is lead grow then in the last hour they SUBTRACTED 1,000 votes! He was overs 1,101,000, now he is under and behind

In 2009, the Republican National Committee spent $9 million on then-Virginia Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bob McDonnell. But during the 2013 cycle in a battle for the same seat, the RNC reportedly only put $3 million behind Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli’s effort.A report by National Review’s Jonathan Strong cited a Republican source blaming former RNC chair Michael Steele for the lack of participation by the RNC in this cycle for having spent too much in 2009.On Derek Hunter’s WBAL radio show in Baltimore on Wednesday, Steele responded to that attack and Monday morning quarterbacked yesterday’s election by pointed out some lessons...

If on Election Day 2014, 24% of Americans make Obamacare their #1 issue, Dems would be staring at a massive defeat. But keen political analyst Ed Schultz, doing an endzone dance over Terry McAuliffe's victory, absolutely exulted today over the fact that "only" 24% of Virginians put Obamacare at the top of their issue list. Ken Cuccinelli closed a double-digit deficit down to three fingernail-biting points last night thanks to Obamacare. Extrapolate that kind of effect across the country and you have a tidal wave sweeping Dems out of office. But good old Ed gloated over the "only" 24%. View...

Former Democratic Governor of Virginia Douglass Wilder declared “the biggest mistake” that fellow Democrat Terry McAuliffe made in his successful but very close campaign was appearing side by side with President Barack Obama. “The biggest mistake made in the McAuliffe campaign was the later introduction directly of Obama in the campaign, it almost sank him,” Wilder told WMAL radio in Washington D.C. …

How does a Democratic fund-raiser from the Clinton era manage to turn scandal into triumph? How does a former head of the Democratic Party whose character is more than a little questionable manage to turn his background into a stint living in the Governor's Mansion in Virginia? That's easy. All you have to do is accuse your opponent of waging a war on women. Never mind if it's the truth. Just spend millions of money telling the lie and it becomes the truth for a lot of people. Just ask Terry McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli. Even though Cuccinelli closed the...

Republican Ken Cuccinelli's unexpectedly strong showing in the Virginia governor's race will make it more difficult for moderate members of the GOP to pull the party toward the center, says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Polls had shown Cuccinelli down by 7 points to Democrat Terry McAuliffe, but Cuccinelli, a tea party favorite, led vote counts most of the night, with Clinton administration insider McAuliffe pulling out a late victory as bigger cities were counted. "Whether it's one vote or a million, you're governor for four years," Sabato said. Still, he said, "The conservative...

Thread for discussion of tonight's VA Gov Elecitons Result. Is this too early?

If you haven’t paid enough attention, you would likely assume that there are only two elections in the entire country. The first, involving that often seen rhinoceros species Governor Chris Christie – who has been in bed with more Democrats than Ted Kennedy, and the second, involving the gubernatorial race pitting Ken Cuccinelli – a real conservative and Terry McAuliffe – an old Clinton retread whom Rush Limbaugh lovingly refers to as “the punk.” Many conservatives are holding their breath – rightfully so in Virginia – and hoping for a victory for Cuccinelli. I couldn’t agree more. He has solid...

We all owe Ron Paul a debt of gratitude for jumping in to help save Ken Cuccinelli. This is huge. === On Monday, former Congressman and staunch libertarian Ron Paul (R-TX) campaigned for Virginia Republican Governor candidate Ken Cuccinelli and said Virginias would be giving up on liberty if they voted for Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Tuesday's election and would be "insane" if they voted for so-called libertarian Robert Sarvis, the third-party candidate who may siphon enough votes from Cuccinelli to spoil the election. ===