Terry McAuliffe's (D. VA) campaign is getting a little help from a Democratic rising star:
http://woodbridge-va.patch.com/...
San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro joined other campaign volunteers in Woodbridge today to canvass for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.
"Everyone around the nation is watching this campaign," Castro said in his remarks to those gathered. After last year's huge voter turnout for the presidential election, Castro worries that voters will stay home for this election.
Castro, who was just elected to his third term as mayor, was the keynote speaker for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. He campaigned for President Barack Obama in Woodbridge last year. House of Delegates candidates Mike Futrell and Hung Nguyen, Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta, and Prince William County Democratic Committee Chair Harry Wiggins were also present at today's canvassing event to support McAuliffe.
Castro grew up in Texas, "the state that has brought you great barbecue, Shiner Bock beer, and Ted Cruz," he said. "Two out of three isn't bad." - Woodbridge Patch, 10/12/13
Meahwhile, here's who's out pimping Ken Cuccinelli's (R. VA) campaign:
One of the top GOP right wing/Fox News memes is that there is no war on women and that all the anti-choice bills and attempts to defund Planned Parenthood are righteous attempts to save us women from our silly and slutty selves. The reality, however, is that there is a concerted effort to deprive women of the reproductive rights and chief among those who are trying to do this is Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli. His numbers, understandably, are abysmal among women. So given that Fox News is the first stop for on any Republican rehab tour, it wasn't surprising to see him on Fox & Friends where he was interviewed by new friend, Elizabeth let-the-poor-die-of-heat-exhaustion Hasselbeck who, in effect, provided him with his very own Fox News campaign ad.
Friday's Fox & Friends was my first observation of Hasselbeck doing a complete interview. I've gotta say that her performance makes former friend Gretchen Carlson look like the Rhodes Scholar that she was. While Carlson's delivery was dramatic (ranged from very compassionate to fiery) Hasselbeck's delivery had no range whatsoever. But then when the intent is to promote the agenda of the guest, who needs range?!
Anyway, Hasselbeck started with piece by reporting that the Virginia gubernatorial campaign has "taken a negative turn with an ad just weeks before the election that's attracting national attention." The chyron reminded the viewers about this evil Democratic negativity: "On the Attack, VA Gubernatorial Week Goes Negative." In promoting the right wing meme that poor "Cooch" (a nickname that's a tad ironic given his anti-choice position, if you know what I'm saying) is the victim of this negativity Hasselbeck ran an ad that Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe "unleashed" on poor Ken in which he "attacked" poor Ken's stand on abortion. - NewsHounds, 10/12/13
Meanwhile, the Washington Post has endorsed McAuliffe for Governor:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Mr. McAuliffe, who is nothing if not a deal-maker, holds out the credible promise that Virginia will remain open, tolerant and pragmatic, friendly to business and committed to job growth. That is critical in the face of sequestration and other austerity measures in a state whose economy is heavily dependent on federal spending.
In contrast to his scattershot campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor four years ago, Mr. McAuliffe has run a focused campaign, locking up the nomination on the strength of a peripatetic outreach effort that took him to every corner of the state.
There is no disguising that Mr. McAuliffe, a self-described wheeler-dealer who burst on to the national stage as a prodigious fundraiser for Bill Clinton in the 1990s, lacks the close engagement with policy possessed by Virginia’s recent governors. The ultimate political insider, his stock in trade has been playing the angles where access and profit intersect.
Nonetheless, as a candidate for governor Mr. McAuliffe has taken sensible stands on key issues, and he has had the political savvy to stay mostly on message. Critically, he embraced the transportation funding bill enacted by a bipartisan majority of the General Assembly this year, a measure that will ensure that the state’s roads and rails keep pace with a 21st-century economy.
That stance, in line with Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s, took courage; at its core is support for a substantial tax increase. Tellingly, Mr. Cuccinelli, who for a decade opposed every significant, politically viable effort to rescue the state’s crumbling transportation systems, did his best to subvert the bill. Mr. Cuccinelli would have Virginians believe that roads can be built on a wing and a prayer; Mr. McAuliffe had the spine to say what moderate Republicans and Democrats finally agreed on: that a modern transportation network cannot be built for free. - Washington Post, 10/12/13
And it not-so-new news, the government shutdown continues to hurt Cucinelli's chances:
http://www.npr.org/...
Marsha Rippy, a legal assistant in Hopewell, Va. — not far from Richmond and near Fort Lee, a big Army base — says the shutdown has taken a toll in her community.
"I have friends that have been furloughed. I have friends who are contractors whose contracts are in jeopardy," she says.
Rippy has been active in Republican Party politics for 15 years. But she says that this November she will not be voting for the party's gubernatorial candidate. She says Cuccinelli is too close to the Tea Party wing of the GOP, which she holds responsible for the federal shutdown.
"I view them as too extreme and harmful to the country," she says. "I just simply cannot support a candidate that endorses their platform."
Rippy says her decision not to support Cuccinelli "is a big deal for me." And she's not alone.
Michael Karabinos, who works for a health insurance company in Richmond, says he voted for outgoing Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell four years ago. But in this election, Karabinos plans to vote for the Libertarian candidate, Robert Sarvis.
Karabinos says "giving Cuccinelli a win is also giving a win to the same branch of the Republican Party that's pushing this shutdown ... the party that left me behind."
Cuccinelli, currently Virginia's attorney general, is strongly conservative, especially on social issues. Until the past week or so, opinion polls had him trailing former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe by a few points.
But in surveys taken since the government shutdown, McAuliffe's lead has clearly widened — in some polls, into double-digits. - NPR, 10/11/13
The election is Tuesday, November 5th. If you would like to donate or get involved with McAuliffe's campaign, you can click here:
http://terrymcauliffe.com/