I suspect that what’s going on here is that McAuliffe has tried to sell Virginia not just a liberal or left-wing agenda, but a radical socialist agenda, and that Virginians are not taking to it very well.
But because he is *openly* “all-ahead full” for the radical socialist agenda, the Democrat party is pulling out all the stops to get him elected, hoping beyond hope that if they can get him elected, they can tout to all other Democrats that the radical socialist agenda is the way to go.
Conversely, if he crashes and burns and Cuccinelli is elected, the question becomes the Virginia senate, which right now is evenly split, with the Republican Lieutenant Governor being the tiebreaker. The house is solidly Republican.
If Cuccinelli is elected and the Republicans maintain control of the senate, or even better pick up senators, then Virginia is likely to go the way of North Carolina, going strongly conservative in policies, which will mean a solid red Virginia in the next presidential race. If Cuccinelli wins, but loses the senate, Virginia will totally stagnate for the next few years, because the Democrats will block anything that could lead to success or prosperity.
Those are good observations. One more item...the Virginia Senate is 50/50 but too many Republican Senators are Rinos, which makes things even harder.