Posted on 11/05/2013 10:44:22 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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 roughly 40,000 votes.
“This race was never a choice between Democrats or Republicans,” McAuliffe said in his victory speech to an excited crowd of supporters in a hotel ballroom. “It was a choice about whether Virginia would continue the mainstream bipartisan tradition that has served us so well over the past decade.”
Democrat Ralph Northam was elected as the state's next lieutenant governor, unofficial returns showed. He defeated Republican E.W. Jackson, a Baptist minister whose controversial past statements on hot-button issues like gay rights and abortion made him an easy target for Democrats.
Democrats did not sweep all three top statewide offices, however. Mark Obenshain, the Republican candidate for attorney general, led Democrat Mark Herring by 2 percent with 94 percent of the precincts counted.
But it was the McAuliffe-Cuccinelli showdown that captured the national attention of both Democrats and Republicans looking for early indications of voter attitudes and potential campaign strategies ahead of the 2014 congressional elections.
McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and friend and fundraiser for the Clintons, easily outspent Cuccinelli by nearly 2-to-1, allowing him to fund a barrage of attack ads that portrayed Cuccinelli as an ideological extremist.
McAuliffe also benefited from a highly effective get-out-the-vote effort that, in an election that hinged on turnout, helped push participation levels beyond that of the last gubernatorial campaign in 2009 and closer to the 2012 presidential election's levels.
One measure of the race's status as the most competitive race in the off-year elections nationwide was the parade of political celebrities who made their way to the Old Dominion's campaign trail.
President Obama and the Clintons, among others, campaigned with and raised cash for McAuliffe. A trio of Tea Party heroes — Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Marco Rubio of Florida — were among those standing with Cuccinelli.
The Virginia race played out against a political backdrop of a government shutdown, gridlocked Congress and internal feud between conservative and moderate Republicans. McAuliffe tried to tie Cuccinelli to Washington’s problems, including the conservative-driven shutdown. Cuccinelli, meanwhile, linked McAuliffe to the increasingly unpopular Obama and the president’s troubled health care reforms. On the eve of the election, Cuccinelli declared his race to be a referendum on Obamacare.
"This race came down to the wire because of Obamacare," Cuccinelli said Tuesday.
McAuliffe’s fundraising advantage was clearly paying dividends, particularly late in the race when it mattered most. During the week of Oct. 28, McAuliffe’s campaign ran roughly 2,500 TV ads — spending about as much as Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, did to win in 2009 — compared with 1,500 aired by Cuccinelli’s campaign.
Polls in the final days of the election showed McAuliffe leading Cuccinelli by roughly 6 to 7 percentage points.
In addition to enduring the advertising blitz, Cuccinelli was also hamstrung by a conservative record that alienated moderate and independent voters — and by more than a few of his fellow Republicans who backed McAuliffe.
The strain between Cuccinelli and much of the rest of his party was fueled by Cuccinelli’s successful effort to change the Republican nominating process from an open primary that favored a moderate candidate to a closed convention dominated by his conservative supporters.
McAuliffe faced his own obstacles, including his ties to GreenTech Automotive, a company he helped found that was the subject of a federal investigation into whether he obtained special treatment for the company from the federal government.
Some voters were left dissatisfied with both candidates and drove Robert Sarvis, a libertarian candidate whose candidacy offered voters turned off by McAuliffe and Cuccinelli a none-of-the-above option. Unofficial returns showed Sarvis winning about 7 percent of the vote.
Is there exit polling that Sarvis took more from Cuccinelli ? McAuliffe internals showed that they would split the first 5% and after that be 2-1 from GOP voters. But I wonder if there wasn’t more of a Dem protest effect since the race ended up a lot tighter than those polls were showing.
The sheeple don’t care if Hillary ate fetuses for breakfast. They will vote for her in large numbers. More Americans today seek hand-outs from Papa government.
I believe the current electorate is pro socialist. More states are turning Blue. The real American Patriot is
diminished.
Conservatives losing these elections is not because they are poor candidates. It’s the rotted populace.
The numbers and the clues. Most vote straight ticket and Mark Obenshain wins over whatever. WHO knows Who these people are? How is it He wins and Ken Cuccinelli doesn’t? His name cancels the other in the database? Something as simple as that can screw a whole State? .This needs to be looked into.
Nobody said freedom is easy.
Lucky for now.
There’s the tip-off (AG). I agree with you, noodler.
And what Leo(Windhorse) said
“Yankee carpet-baggers should not govern southern states”
Amen!
What kind of person is Mark Obenshain? Is he a bonafide conservative or a squish? If the former, it shouldn’t be too long because McAuliffe is a typical corrupt SOB & they’re barely even putting up a pretense anymore.
Registered Libertarians that voted for Sarvis are delusional, so it’s hard to make sense of their motives.
Regarding the narrow margin, prolly a combination of protest and Tea Party as you suggest.
Another vote count brought to you by the friendly
folks at ACORN, a division of WALKING DEADOCRAT Inc.......
People around here have short memories.
Cuccinelli had a lot to do with the fact that Gingrich was kept off the ballot in the 2012 Virginia Republican primary, handing the prize to Romney.
Quite a few people here lambasted Cuccinelli for being a Romneybot and a GOPe RINO, and now, a year later, he somehow miraculously transformed himself into a red-blooded Tea Party conservative.
One can argue whether he was solely responsible for the debacle over Gingrich’s failed attempt to get on the ballot, but he clearly had a hand in it.
Maybe some Virginia voters remembered this flip-flop.
Cuccinelli foolishly did the bidding of the GOPe in 2012, and was shafted in return by the same party elite who care more about cash flow into their personal PACS/piggy banks than they do about repairing a badly damaged country.
And Rick Perry. I haven't forgotten.
interesting...
True enough.
Ultimately, it was the fault of the Gingrich campaign, but the underlying problem is a system that is structured to favor the well-funded establishment candidate.
I wonder if Virginia ever did relax it’s signature requirements post-2012 election, as Cuccinelli advocated?
Virginia is a one term governor state so McAuliffe will not be running for a second term anyway. As for corruption, the Rats have shown that they can overcome an amazing amount of baggage with mountains of money.
“Who are these “fellow Republicans?”
You mean starting with former Lt Gov Bill Bolling? You might remember him from when he was the head of the Romney campaign in VA. That was the same election where we had the streamlined gop primary ballot. Romney and Paul.
“It may take two to three years...but there’s going to be deals and corruption within his office, and he’s not the type that will get a second term.”
Well, I put his chances at not getting a second term as governor at 99.9999999999%.
(Governors in VA are limited to one term)
More like Hildebeast throwing her yeast infection in the pantsuit.
Ah.....I think we can be classier than Hillary - don’t you?
One has to hope that all those who voted for McAuliffe will sooner or later learn of his treasonous dealings along with his fellow chinagate criminals Hillary and Bill Clinton, Johnny Chung, Charlie Trie, John Huang, and Bernard Schwartz (Loral).
Clinton National Security Scandal and Coverup
http://www.angelfire.com/md2/Ldotvets/Bubba_47.html
http://alamo-girl.com/
click HIGH TREASON
click TIME LINE
It’ll be Jeb vrs. Hillary.
Jeb wins.
The election is irrelevant, anyway.
We peasants lose regardless of the outcome.
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