Add another name from the GOP clown car trying to save Ken Cuccinelli's (R. VA) campaign:
http://www.wral.com/...
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory will campaign for fellow Republican and Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli on Thursday.
The get out the vote rally, advertised by the Cuccinelli campaign, will take place in Roanoke, Va., at noon.
During his 2012 campaign, McCrory benefited from visits by sitting Republican governors such as Chris Christie of New Jersey and Nikki Haley of South Carolina. - WRAL, 10/23/13
It makes sense that McCrory would help Cuccinelli. They share a lot in common but the biggest thing that really makes them two peas in a pod is their love of disenfranchising voters:
http://www.dailypress.com/...
In an official opinion as Virginia's attorney general, gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli said there is no built-in conflict of interest if his office investigates and prosecutes alleged violations of election law when he or any other attorney general is a candidate for office.
Cuccinelli, the Republican candidate for governor, said any recusal of the Office of Attorney General in election law matters should be determined case by case.
"For example, if there were an allegation of voter fraud involving three votes in a House of Delegates race decided by one vote and all of the statewide races were decided by 100,000 vote margins, there would not even be a colorable claim that the attorney general or his office could be conflicted out" of investigating or prosecuting, he wrote, in a footnote to the opinion.
Cuccinelli wrote the opinion in response to a question from state Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, who said Wednesday he still felt the attorney general should recuse himself from intervening in any election matter before this year's Election Day, and should consider recusal case by case for issues that arise after then. - Daily Press, 10/23/13
And voting rights is one of the key issues at stake in this race:
http://colorlines.com/...
1. The winner determines the Voting Rights Act’s future: Virginia was once covered under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act before it was neutralized by the U.S. Supreme Court. Before that ruling, Virginia passed a controversial voter ID law that had the potential to burden voters of color but still received the approval of the Justice Department. Cuccinelli, as attorney general, mostly played nice with the federal government for that approval but as soon as Section 5 was dismantled he set out to enforce an even stricter voter ID law passed this year by the state legislature. Cuccinelli could have voiced disapproval of the weakening of voting rights protections, like North Carolina’s attorney general, Roy Cooper, did but instead he mocked it. Tomorrow, Cuccinelli will rally with North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, who this year signed what the Department of Justice has called the most restrictive voter ID law in the nation. McAuliffe meanwhile is campaigning on creating a state-level version of the federal civil rights law.
2. The winner determines how elections are run: We’ve all heard about the long voting lines in Florida, but Virginia wasn’t far behind. There were many reasons for the long waits, which disproportionately impacted voters of color, but it’s the county electoral board members who are in the best position to fix the problems that create long lines. They allocate resources across poll locations and if they decide they only want two booths at a heavy turnout area, then those voters better bring their books and iPads when they go vote. County electoral boards are composed of three members and whatever party wins the governor’s election determines who will make up the two-seat majority. This is important given that some of the current county electoral boards, all with Republican majorities, have been carrying out voter purges under Cuccinelli’s authorization. As many as 57,000 voters might be purged for this election according to the social justice group Virginia New Majority. - Color Lines, 10/23/13
At this point, I don't see how McCrory will be able to help the Cooch win over voters. He's already tanking in the polls:
https://www.politicususa.com/...
Things are so bad for Virginia Republicans that GOP pollster Rasmussen has McAuliffe leading Cuccinelli 50%-33%. Libertarian Robert Sarvis is third at 8%. In case you don’t trust Rasmussen polls, and you shouldn’t, PPP has a new poll of early voters that shows McAuliffe leading Cuccinelli by 18 points with early voters.
PPP found the Democrat leading 57%-39% with early voters. Libertarian Sarvis has just 3% of the votes cast by those who already voted. McAuliffe leads with Independents, 54%-37%. The Democrat is building a big lead with women early voters 60%-36%, and he is leading with white voters 55%-41%. Some Republicans will blame the government shutdown for burying Cucccinelli, and the shutdown may end up turning this contest into a blowout, but the real problem is that Virginia Republicans chose a candidate who is completely out of step with the political direction that their state is moving in.
Virginia Republicans are getting spanked by the voters in their state, because they followed the lead of the national party. They moved more to the right in order to appeal to base that has become the embodiment of the term fringe. If Cuccinelli loses, many will blame the loss on the government shutdown, but the Republican has not led in a single poll since July. McAuliffe’s lead ranged from 1-7 points all through the summer. His lead steadied into the 4-5 point range before the government shutdown. After the shutdown, McAuliffe’s lead jumped to 7-10 points. Post shutdown, McCauliffe has seen his lead explode to close to 20 points. - Politicus USA, 10/22/13
Even the teabaggers aren't impressed with Cuccinelli:
http://www.politicususa.com/...
The tea party response, of course, is to ignore polls that say only 5 percent of Virginia’s think Cuccinelli is too liberal and insist that he is not extreme enough. It is as though they think being more of what makes him unpopular will somehow make him more popular. It’s a strange way of thinking but not much about tea party extremism makes sense to the un-diseased human brain.
Bad enough the Family Research Council thought sending Rick Santorum to lead a special “strikeforce” to “save” Cuccinelli was a great idea. That alone is more than enough to doom the man given what Virginians already think about him.
But the Richmond Tea Party’s executive director Larry Nordvig told Breitbart last month that Cuccinelli isn’t conservative enough because he hadn’t taken a sufficient stand against “Obamacare, immigration, and moral decline.” - Politicus USA, 10/24/13
Really? I guess the teabaggers haven't really been listening to Cuccinelli's own words:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Cuccinelli calls for the dismissal Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in the wake of the troubled launch of HealthCare.gov.
“I believe that President Obama ought to fire Kathleen Sebelius. Congress should legally pass a one-year delay of the individual mandate.”
Cuccinelli on whether he would have voted for the bipartisan measure on Capitol Hill that brought the 16-day federal shutdown to an end.
“I don’t know whether I would have voted for it.”
Cuccinelli also boasted of suing the federal government over the health-care law and called the Environmental Protection Agency the “employment prevention agency.”
“We don’t win every time. But I’ll tell you what — you don’t win any fights you don’t get in.” - Washington Post, 10/23/13
That might explain why Cuccinelli has been focusing too much on energizing his base while losing everyone else:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Rather than aiming for the moderates who have transformed the political landscape in recent elections, Cuccinelli is increasingly focused on shoring up his conservative base at a time when all recent polls show him lagging behind Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
Cuccinelli, the Republican attorney general, has dialed back his ad spending in liberal-leaning Northern Virginia in comparison with other regions of the state. And after months of seeming to avoid talking about some of his more conservative positions, he has returned to fiery rhetoric in recent appearances.
He has also sought help from a steady stream of conservative Republican luminaries, including Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and his father, Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) — choices that may hold particular appeal to voters considering Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis, who is largely responsible for Cuccinelli’s struggle to lock up Republican support.
Cuccinelli also rallied with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in Richmond last weekend and staged a conference call on the Affordable Care Act with Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) on Tuesday. - Washington Post, 10/23/13
Another thing is that the Cooch keeps getting his hand stuck in the cookie jar:
http://augustafreepress.com/...
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli appears to have undervalued the cost of his stay at a Goochland County mansion owned by Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams on his Statement of Economic Interests reports to the state.
This from Freedom of Information Act requests made by State Sen. Donald McEachin for records pertaining to Cuccinelli’s involvement with Williams, whose dealings with Cuccinelli and Gov. Bob McDonnell have been in the spotlight for several months now.
The value put on the month-long stay at the 9,000-square-foot mansion owned by Williams was listed by Cuccinelli at $27 a day, even as internal emails made public in the FOIA request make clear that Cuccinelli staff themselves questioned using that figure in the report, conceding that Williams would command much more than the $800 monthly rate eventually used in the reporting. - Augusta Free Press, 10/23/13
Not to mention the Cooch is getting slammed for his anti-women's health and rights agenda:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/...(Blog%3A+Political+Ticker)
Hours before Thursday's final debate in the race for Virginia governor, a leading abortion rights group says it's going up with internet ads that attack the Republican candidate in the race, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, for "meddling in women's private health decisions."
NARAL Pro Choice America tells CNN that they'll spend five figures to run the spot between now and the November 5 election.
"Keep Ken Cuccinelli's extreme views out of your bedroom, and your medicine cabinet, and the governor's mansion," says the narrator in the commercial. - CNN, 10/24/13
While Cuccinelli is getting his fellow extremists to help energize the insane GOP base, McAuliffe has the Big Dog on his side:
http://www.politico.com/...
Bill Clinton will appear at five events around Virginia with Terry McAuliffe Sunday and Monday, with more appearances to be announced next week for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
On Sunday, the former president will kick off what’s being billed as the “Putting Jobs First” tour by appearing in the outer Washington suburb of Dale City. The 12:30 p.m. rally is at a VFW post not far from the Quantico Marine Corps Base.
Then the duo will head to Richmond for a 4:45 p.m. Sunday rally at a high school and finish the day with a 7:45 p.m. event at a community center in Hampton.
On Monday at 10:15 a.m., they will rally on the waterfront in Norfolk.
Then they’ll head across the state to Blacksburg for a 2 p.m. event on the campus of Virginia Tech.
McAuliffe’s team said additional events will be announced soon. - Politico, 10/22/13
Despite what you think about him, Bill knows how to get the base fired up. I'm extremely confident that McAuliffe will win this race but Senator Elizabeth Warren (D. MA) is lending a hand in assuring McAuliffe's win:
I was in a state of disbelief when House Republicans said they would shut down the government unless there were changes to the law so that employers could deny women access to birth control.
But then I heard about what Ken Cuccinelli had done in Virginia and realized this wasn't a new playbook – and that maybe I shouldn't have been surprised.
Cuccinelli, the right-wing Attorney General of Virginia, almost derailed Virginia's budget in 2008 in an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood. And he sponsored a bill that could have banned common forms of birth control. Even the pill.
Now here's the scary thing: In just 12 days, Ken Cuccinelli could become governor of Virginia.
I don't normally write to you about governor's races, but I'm sick of debating these social issues like it's 1913, not 2013.
And I'd rather write an email now – asking you to donate to Terry McAuliffe's campaign for Governor to stop Ken Cuccinelli – than to have to send another email later about how to stop Ken Cuccinelli after he declares victory:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
Over the past several years, the Republicans haven't had control in Washington, but they've had more luck pushing their radical agenda in the states.
We've seen a slew of backward-looking ideologues – like Scott Walker in Wisconsin – chip away at our core values like collective bargaining and women's rights.
The last thing we need is Ken Cuccinelli joining their ranks.
Terry McAuliffe's election is just 12 days away. Stop Ken Cuccinelli and the anti-woman agenda by supporting Terry right now:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
I can't believe we are having conversations like this in 2013, but we are. So we need to fight back.
Thank you for being a part of this,
Elizabeth
You can click here to donate to McAuliffe's campaign:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
DFA is also involved in this race taking down other Tea Party loons on the ballot:
Have you seen the polls? The reckless Republican shutdown has destroyed the GOP brand across America. Just check out what the Washington Post said about its recent poll:
“The survey highlights just how badly the GOP hard-liners and the leaders who went along with them misjudged the public mood. In the aftermath, eight in ten Americans say they disapprove of the shutdown. Two in three Republicans or independents who lean Republican share a negative view of the impasse. And even a majority of those who support the Tea Party movement disapprove.”
With Election Day coming up on November 5, Republican candidates are running scared as their poll numbers implode. All eyes are on the purple state of Virginia, where DFA’s “Purple to Blue” candidates have seen double-digit polling spikes. In a dramatic surge, four top-tier progressives are now in statistical dead heats with their Tea Party opponents.
As Gov. Howard Dean told DFA members during our nationwide DFA Live call on Monday: If Virginia Democrats win these critical elections, it will send a political shock wave across the country -- and set the stage for Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats to take back control of the House of Representatives in 2014.
That’s why DFA is mobilizing members across the country to Call Out The Vote in Virginia. And it’s why DFA’s Purple to Blue program needs your financial support. This is urgent -- please contribute now to defeat these Tea Party Republicans:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
Democrat Jennifer Boysko and 12-year Republican incumbent Tom Rust are locked in a statistical dead heat, with Boysko gaining 16 points since the last poll. Democrat Kathleen Murphy is now leading Republican Barbara Comstock by three points. Democrat John Bell and Republican David Ramadan are tied. And Democrat Atif Qarni has jumped 13 points and trails by just three.
Let’s be clear. This isn’t just about the shutdown. DFA members like you have been contributing to these campaigns since April. We’ve had staff on the ground since May. We’ve made thousands of voter contacts both at the door and through our DFA Dialer program. And the resources and contributions we’ve provided directly to candidates has placed us in the top three donors to several candidates across Virginia.
DFA members have made a huge difference -- and now we urgently need your help at the finish line in this critical bellwether state. Please contribute now to defeat these Tea Party Republicans -- and send a message to their cronies in DC:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
While we still have to wait until 2014 to take back the House, we can beat Republicans at the ballot box right now -- in Virginia. But only with your help.
Thank you for all that you do,
Jim
Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America
You can click here to donate to DFA's candidates:
https://secure.actblue.com/...
And please do contribute to the rest of the Democratic ticket:
http://www.herringforag.com/
http://www.northamforlg.com/