this is an extended and slightly modified version of this Blue Commonwealth posting
The extreme language of Catherine Crabill (about which Jed wrote this frontpage story) is now being used to challenge other Republican candidates. Crabill made her remarks about resorting to the bullet box at a Tea Party. Another Republican candidate speaking at Tea Parties in Virginia has been the Republican nominee for Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, who had spoken at two Tea Party events on July 4, in Roanoke and Charlottesville.
Steve Shannon, the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, has suddenly become very proactive in his campaigning, perhaps as a result of the recent hire of Mike Henry, one of the most experienced Virginia political operatives, as his campaign manager.
Today Shannon had a press conference call, and issued a press release, the contents of which are below the fold.
I have some additional commentary at the end.
Fairfax, VA - Democratic Nominee for Attorney General Steve Shannon held a conference call with reporters Friday asking his opponent, Ken Cuccinelli, to respond to the reckless remarks made by his running mate and fellow "Tea Party" supporter Catherine Crabill.
"This type of incendiary rhetoric is not only divisive, it's downright reckless," Shannon told reporters. "As a candidate for Attorney General, I strongly reject and denounce these remarks and I hope my opponent Senator Ken Cuccinelli will do the same, especially given his close ties to the "Tea Party Movement" and the fact that he is running on the ballot with Ms. Crabill."
At a "Tea Party" rally on Wednesday, Crabill, who is running for the House of Delegates in the 99th District, said Tea Party supporters "have a chance to fight this battle at the ballot box, before we have to resort to the bullet box." The video of her comment can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/...
In a follow-up interview with The Washington Post on Thursday, Crabill said "Those are my convictions... what we're seeing in Washington is domestic terrorism at its worst."
On Friday's conference call, Shannon posed the following questions to Cuccinelli:
* Do you believe that the President of the United States and federal government employees are domestic terrorists, as Ms. Crabill claims?
* Do you believe Americans should resort to the so-called "bullet box" and violently overthrow their elected representatives if they dislike the result of a democratic election?
* Do you know Catherine Crabill and do you support her candidacy?
* What is your relationship to the organizers of these tea parties?
Cuccinelli recently spoke at two Tea Party events on July 4th in Roanoke and Charlottesville.
Delegate Shannon is a former criminal prosecutor from Fairfax County. He is the only candidate for Attorney General with public safety experience
Shannon is the first Democratic candidate out of the box to demand that other Republicans reject the rhetoric offered by Crabill. I suspect he will not be the last.
Now is a good time support your Virginia candidates for public office.
Remember that Al Pollard is the incumbent in the 99th House of Delegates District who has Crabill as his opponent. And Steve Shannon is our Democratic candidate for Attorney General.
For Daily Kos readers - remember that in Virginia we are not only electing all three statewide offices - Governor and Lt. Governor, as well as the Attorney General - but that all 100 seats in the House of Delegates are also up. The Democrats need to pick up a net of 6 seats in order to gain control of the House to go along with the current control of the State Senate and - hopefully - putting Creigh Deeds in the executive mansion to continue the work of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. This election will decide who controls the redistricting process for Virginia's 11 US House Districts, the 100 seats in the House of Delegates, and the 40 seats in the State Senate (where the Dems currently control by 21-19, but where the seat held by Deeds will be up for grabs if/when he becomes Governor).
Virginia is ground zero politically this year. I will from time to time be writing not only about the statewide races, but also about specific House of Delegates races where money and support can make a huge difference.
Peace.