Virginia Governor’s Race: Cuccinelli Eating Away at McAuliffe’s Lead in the Final Days

ClashDaily.com ^ | 11/2/13 | Donald Joy

[IChing]

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 November 5th–and over the last week or so, things have suddenly shifted in Cuccinelli’s favor. Even though he still trails McAuliffe by 7.7 points in the Real Clear Politics polling average, and in all polls, two recent polls have him closing, and closing fast.

The latest polls posted by Quinnipiac and Emerson College have Cuccinelli within 4 points and 2 points of McAuliffe, respectively.

The previously confident McAuliffe has taken to exhorting his supporters against complacency, and is now warning them that he could lose.

This is a race which signals many Virginians’ disillusionment and disgust with both major parties, as Libertarian party candidate Robert Sarvis’ poll numbers have hovered around 10 percent(the Emerson College poll has him favored by 13 percent of likely voters). The Richmond Times-Dispatch declined to endorse any candidate in the race, opining that “The major-party candidates have earned the citizenry’s derision.” The Charlottesville(home of the University of Virginia) Daily Progress went as far as recommending that voters write-in the name of outgoing Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who had sought his party’s nomination, but withdrew his bid when the Virginia GOP opted for a nominating convention instead of a state-wide open primary.

As for the sudden surge for Cuccinelli, speculation seems to focus mainly on certain key dynamics.

First, we can surmise that whatever margin in McAuliffe’s favor which could have been be attributed to the democrats’ success in using their mainstream media operatives to falsely blame republicans for the partial government shutdown is now being rapidly eclipsed by the astonishingly horrible disaster and national awakening to betrayal occasioning the utterly failed abomination that is the mis-launch of Obamacare, associated with democrats.

Whereas for awhile there, republicans were seen by the generally uninformed electorate as the bad guys, now it’s becoming painfully obvious (to even the democrats’ cheerleader lapdogs at major media outlets) that Obama and his entire administration, and his useful-idiot democrat legions everywhere, have ushered in a national nightmare that is destroying and depriving health care options for millions. Cuccinelli now looks more like the good guy, by merely being a republican.

Highlighting that contrast is the fact that while democrats have been running ads trying to depict Ken Cuccinelli as some kind of villain for being the first state Attorney general to sue to stop Obamacare, such ads surely can only be backfiring in the minds of numerous voters, as “Cooch” will of course be seen by increasing numbers instead as a hero for his valiant attempt to save them from such a horrible law.

Furthermore, its been noted that in the final days of a campaign, some usual republican voters have a tendency to abandon enchantment with third-party candidates and “come home” to their major party’s choice. Whether that is a feature of what will take place in Virginia this coming Tuesday remains to be seen. Sarvis’ numbers haven’t really decreased, overall. But the historical pattern favors Cuccinelli in that regard.

I’m not so optimistic these days that I would bet on a Cuccinelli win. After all, McAuliffe still has the lead. But even McAuliffe himself is telling his supporters to ignore the polls.

In an email intended to rally his troops to not take anything for granted, and to “get out the vote,” McAuliffe admonished, “No matter what pollsters are reporting, newspapers are writing, and your friends might be telling you — we’re facing two hard truths. In off-year elections like this one, Tea Party voters turn out more reliably than Democrats. For 45 years, the political party that controls the White House has lost our governor’s race the next year. In 2009, fewer than 40 percent of Virginia voters cast a ballot for governor, despite the fact that nearly 70 percent voted in the presidential election the year before.”

Clearly, McAuliffe is becoming a little bit worried by the changing polls showing his rival gaining on him.

I’ve been worried about the outcome of this race for awhile now, but I’m a bit less worried lately.

To end this on a rather light and bawdy note; what was it again, that some people say about Terry McAuliffe’s main political benefactor, who also once tried to shove socialized medicine down our country’s throats? Oh yes–”See you next Tuesday.”

[IChing]

Wouldn't that be something if Ken Cuccinelli pulls off a come-from-behind miracle in the Old Dominion? If he does, you can be sure that the Obamacare debacle had a lot to do with it.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Highlighting that contrast is the fact that while democrats have been running ads trying to depict Ken Cuccinelli as some kind of villain for being the first state Attorney general to sue to stop Obamacare, such ads surely can only be backfiring in the minds of numerous voters

ROTFLMAO!

[Tupelo]

Terry McAuliffe even being nominated as the Democrat candidate says volumes about how far down the big government Fascist rat hole Virginia has sunk.

[Liz]

McAwfull has about ten times the funds that Cuccinelli has—McA’s running TV ads up the kazoo.

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Start the avalanche of contributions to Ken....he needs to run last minute-ads to get over the top.

CUCCINELLI DONATION WEB SITE—click here to donate

https://secure.piryx.com/donate/FkzOS94c/Ken-Cuccinelli-for-Governor/nav-bar

[Perdogg]

ping

[Zhang Fei]

The Charlottesville(home of the University of Virginia) Daily Progress went as far as recommending that voters write-in the name of outgoing Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who had sought his party’s nomination, but withdrew his bid when the Virginia GOP opted for a nominating convention instead of a state-wide open primary.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a nominating convention? And is a state-wide open primary different from party primaries?

[Starboard]

Terry McAuliffe(who has never been elected to any public office)

********
Bears repeating. He has NEVER been elected to anything. Wake up Virginia and think about who you are electing to your highest state office!

McAuliffe would turn Virginia into Maryland. Is that what you want?

[LALALAW]

Cuccinelli victory would be the end of Obama. Rat Sens up for reelection would jump ship so fast. . . like RATS.

[Junk Silver]

I wonder if McAuliffe is wishing he could get Obama to cancel his campaign appearance this weekend. I think this could do Terry’s campaign more harm than good at this point. (I hope so.)

[snarkytart]

amen

it’s stunning he’s even in the lead. wow..the left white professionals (*)(*@ up one state then move to another and repeat.

damn VA has fallen in just two Presidential elections.

[ilovesarah2012]

I expect to see a lot of voter fraud.

[IChing]

A nominating convention is where party delegates meet in Richmond to cast their votes for who should be the nominee (I was a delegate in 2009), whereas an open primary has voters all over the state voting for who should be the party’s nominee. In Virginia, voters aren’t registered by party, so democrats can vote in republican primaries.

[SC_Pete]

Federal (feral) employees in N. Va.

[txrefugee]

Yes, it is pitiful to see Virginia, the home state of the Father of Our Country, George Washington, on the brink of electing a carpet-bagging Democrat crook to lead them. How low can you go?

[Redmen4ever]

In Virginia, parties have the option of nominating by convention or by primary. The powers to be of the Republican Party decided on a convention. In a sense, to be a delegate was relatively easy. Just go to you local county or independent city “mass meeting” of the Republican Party, but maybe you had to fill out some paperwork beforehand, and be elected a delegate to the convention. Then, on the convention day, go to Richmond, register for the convention, and be prepared to stay 12 or 14 hours or however long it took. As you might suspect, convention-goers are hardcore, party faithful. BUT ... can the candidates they nominate appeal to a broader constituency? The Lt. Governor thought he could win in a primary, but thought he had no chance at a convention. So, he didn’t even contest the Attorney General for the nomination for Governor. For a time, he considered the option of running as an independent, but eventually decided against it. The Libertarian candidate is picking up support from moderate Republicans who feel they were disenfranchised by the convention. So far two newspapers that normally endorse the Republican have decided to be neutral. Really, this race should not be close. We should be up five or six points.

[103198]

In Virginia, you don't register by party. That is when you register to vote, you don't declare that you are a Republican, Dem, etc. Therefore a registered voter can vote in any Commonwealth-wide primary (which is also paid by all the Citizens of the Commonwealth - and that's another issue). In a party primary, only members of a party can vote in the primary. The Code of Virginia does not allow for party primaries.

A nominating convention is where each of the Commonwealth's Republican Committees (I think 95 counties and 39 cities in Virginia) elect delegates and they gather to elect and nominate candidates for the upcoming election. This summer, more than 10,000 Republicans from all across the Commonwealth gathered at the Richmond Coliseum to select the candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General. Since current Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli didn't have any challenge, he was automatically selected as the Republican candidate for Governor. E.W. Jackson and Commonwealth Senator Mark Obenshain did have challengers but were selected by the convention goers through multiple ballots.

[Zhang Fei]

Thanks. Sounds like the good thing about nominating conventions for the GOP is that it’s a virtual guarantee of a conservative nominee. The potentially bad thing is a party schism, which may be what’s happening with the Libertarian candidate getting double digits.

[103198]

You beat me. But since you did, please let me address part of what you wrote.

The "powers that be" is the Republican State Central Committee (SCC). It is comprised of elected Republican representative members from the Congressional Districts. I'll suggest that the current SCC is composed of activists with approximately 60% of them being associated with the Tea Party and/or the Ron Paul sect of the Republican party. Remember that the Virginia delegation to the 2012 National Republican Convention was opposed to all of the rule changes.

The Lt. Governor Bill Bolling may have thought he had a chance to be Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, but it was only his thought. In the polling completed before he dropped out, Bill was down 21 points to Ken. Bill stood no chance in a primary or convention.

On the other hand, Bill conducted himself poorly in support of the Republican party. He has not endorsed the Republican ticket and his chief of staff is now on TMac's campaign staff (Boyd Marcus). He also made at least one call on behalf of TMac. As far as I am concerned, he is a shallow traitor to the cause. I worked, donated, and voted for his GoPe/RINO candidates (he was behind McCain and Romney in Virginia) and he needs to support the most liberty minded, Constitutional Republican ticket in the history of the Commonwealth. But don't get me started.

[IChing]

Sarvis should drop out already!

[103198]

We'll see if the Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis maintains his numbers. I don't think a third party candidate has ever obtained more than 2.2% in a Governor's race in Virginia.

In addition, the more the disaffected learn about Sarvis, the more they learn he is a LINO including not an Austrian School of Economics type. He formerly ran as a Republican in 2011 in NoVA for Commonwealth Senator and has "modified" some of his stances.

Ken has the endorsements of Ron and Rand Paul and all of the major libertarian/Tea Party/Ron Paul folks in Virginia (Donna Holt, Jamie Radtke, Karen Kwiatkowski, Morton Blackwell, etc.). Rand has actively campaigned with Ken in NoVa and other areas and Ron will be in Richmond on Monday evening. This is going right down to the wire and is seminal.