Don't you just love waking up to good news?
http://www.politico.com/...
Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe has widened his lead over his Republican challenger Ken Cuccinelli in a new poll that puts him up 8 points.
The Democrat led the Virginia attorney general 47 percent to 39 percent in a Quinnipiac poll of likely voters out Thursday. In September, Quinnipiac found McAuliffe leading 44 percent to 41 percent.
Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis got 8 percent of the support. - Politico, 10/10/13
Quinnipiac surveyed 1,180 likely voters from Oct. 2 to 8 for the poll, which has an error margin of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. And I will quickly touch upon AP's epic fail:
http://www.politico.com/...
AP sent a news alert at 9:45 p.m. that read “Court records: McAuliffe lied to postal inspector investigating RI death benefits scam,” followed by a story. The story said McAuliffe’s campaign had not responded to requests for comment.
The campaign swiftly denied the story to NBC 12 in Richmond, a response it confirmed to POLITICO. The AP issued a rare withdrawal notice for the story landing at 11:25 p.m. — a major blow to an organization that distributes news to member organizations worldwide, many of which post alerts and stories to the Web almost instantaneously, potentially prolonging the lifespan of any error.
At issue are documents in a death-benefits scheme case against a Rhode Island man, Joseph Caramadre, and his former employee. They pleaded guilty to identity theft and wire fraud charges in 2012, according to the investigative news outlet ProPublica. Prosecutors submitted documents in federal court Wednesday identifying Caramadre investors, according to the Providence Journal. McAuliffe was among those identified.
“Terry was one of hundreds of passive investors several years ago and had no idea about the allegations against the defendant - who, at the time, was widely respected by business leaders and elected officials,” spokesman Josh Schwerin said in an email. “The allegations are horrible and he never would have invested if he knew he was being deceived.”
The indictment identifies someone as “T.M.” on page 68 and says “T.M. intentionally lied to the Postal Inspector” about a $2,000 check from Caramadre.
“The person referenced on page 68 is absolutely not Terry McAuliffe since he was a passive investor and did none of the things referenced,” Schwerin said. “First, he was not interviewed by law enforcement on April 20, 2010; rather, he was in Richmond for a day of meetings. Second, he was never involved in the referral of any annuitants to Mr. Caramadre, ever.” - Politico, 10/10/13
Yeah, epic fail indeed. By the way, Cuccinelli suffered another loss yesterday:
http://thinkprogress.org/...
A judge is allowing a lawsuit against Virginia’s harsh new abortion clinic regulations to proceed, ignoring Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s (R) request to toss it out. The decision represents a victory for the women’s health advocates who have been fighting against the regulations for months.
Virginia tightened its regulations on abortion clinics in April. The state’s Board of Health approved unnecessary rules that require abortion providers to meet the same standards as outpatient hospital facilities, a move that has already forced the state’s busiest abortion clinic to close its doors. Targeting clinics in this way, which indirectly limits access to reproductive health care without banning the abortion procedure itself, is a popular anti-choice tactic that’s successfully gaining ground across the country.
In Virginia specifically, Cuccinelli — who is now the state’s GOP candidate for governor — was instrumental in enacting the new abortion clinic policy. He essentially threatened the Board of Health, warning members they could be denied state-funded legal services if they voted to relax the clinic regulations. Last October, Virginia health commissioner Dr. Karen Remley resigned from her position on the Board in protest of the regulations, citing her disapproval of the proposed anti-abortion laws as the primary reason she could no longer serve “in good faith.”
Falls Church Healthcare Center (FCHC), one of the state’s abortion clinics, filed a lawsuit against the regulations in March. Although Cuccinelli attempted to prevent the suit from proceeding, Wednesday’s decision will ensure that the new restrictions will see their day in court. - Think Progress, 10/9/13
Of course Cuccinelli still thinks he can win this race despite what polling numbers say:
http://www.wjla.com/...
Cuccinelli softly chuckled and shook his head as he walked to his car after the brief JMU session. Are the latest polls ominous?
“I haven’t even seen them – you’re the first person to mention them to me,” he said. “So the short answer is no. I mean, for us, we’re focusing on turning out our folks, and that means everybody who agrees with us on an issue like education. . .
“A lot of people are just now starting to turn and pay attention, so we’ve got to be staying busy and getting our message out for the duration of these four weeks, and I’m confident that when we get to election day, we’re going to be on (top in) the poll that matters.”
Indeed, a lot of people are, in fact, beginning to pay attention to the race – which happens to be occurring at the same time U.S. Senator Ted Cruz is making national headlines almost daily because of his tactics that helped lead to the government shutdown. - WJLA, 10/8/13
And of course the RNC isn't giving up on Cuccinelli either:
http://blogs.rollcall.com/...
A federal account of a state party committee reported today it gave a $500,000 contribution to a candidate for governor the day after it received $500,000 from the Republican National Committee.
The federal account of the Republican Party of Virginia reported it had receipts of $804,154 and disbursements of $769,796 during September, leaving $188,947 cash on hand as of 9/30.
The committee received $271,200 from the Republican National Committee on 9/4, and transferred $100,000 to the Republican Party of Virginia Non-Federal Account. on 9/4. The committee received $500,000 from the Republican National Committee on 9/18 and gave $500,000 to Ken Cuccinelli for Governor Inc. on 9/19. - Roll Call, 10/9/13
And the October 24th debate might get interesting:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
On Oct. 24, Ken Cuccinelli II (R) and businessman Terry McAuliffe (D) are expected to clash at Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus for their final debate of the contest. It’s not clear whether they will be joined on stage by the race’s wild card: Libertarian Robert Sarvis.
With McAuliffe and Cuccinelli engaged in a mostly negative race, multiple surveys have shown Sarvis doing far better than third-party candidates typically fare in Virginia. He appears to be pulling the majority of his votes from Cuccinelli, the state’s attorney general, who has consistently trailed McAuliffe in recent months.
Under the rules negotiated by Cuccinelli, McAuliffe and the debate’s sponsor — WDBJ (Channel 7), the Roanoke CBS affiliate — Sarvis can participate in the debate if he is “polling at 10 percent or above” as of Oct. 10. A handful of recent surveys — including a Washington Post/Abt-SRBI poll in September — have shown Sarvis cracking double digits, but several others have not.
This isn’t just a math problem. The question of which polls to include in the debate calculus has been the subject of much behind-the-scenes wrangling, although most of the players involved don’t want to talk about it.
Cuccinelli has little motivation to grant Sarvis the stature and free airtime that come with a debate, and people involved in the talks said Cuccinelli’s campaign has consistently sought to make it harder for Sarvis to get in. - Washington Post, 10/8/13
We'll see. The election is Tuesday, November 5th. If you would like to donate or get involved with McAuliffe's campaign, you can do so here:
http://terrymcauliffe.com/