McAuliffe's challenge

As of today, it doesn't matter how he compares to Ken Cuccinelli.
His ad money didn't buy him love.

From the people who brought you Obamacare

If you like Obamacare, you'll like Terry McAuliffe.
If you want to see how a McAuliffe administration would work, go to healthcare.gov (when it's not down for maintenance).
All talk and few results - it's the Obamacare/McAuliffe way of life.
If you like your life, you can keep it - if you vote for Ken Cuccinelli.

Getting closer

You've seen polls with Terry McAuliffe's lead growing ahead of Election Day.
Here's one where it's only four points.
Don't give up hope.

Man up - vote Cuccinelli

Is Virginia the land of wimps?
Terry McAuliffe must think so.
Guns?
They are so scary.
His commercials feature women scared of what they think Ken Cuccinelli might do.
And don't forget the government shutdown.
Our Northern Virginia economy has been built on federal government deficit spending - it would be scary to end that.
Even if we need to for a better future.
Fear seems to be McAuliffe's agenda.
There's no way Cuccinelli's agenda can be worse than McAuliffe's.

Can we avoid disaster?

Paco sees the same bad news in polls as I do.
I can't watch the local news. I don't want to destroy my TV when a Terry McAuliffe ad comes on.
This is another troubling aspect of the proliferation of low-information voters: I guess they vote for whoever crops up most often in televised political commercials.
Another reason for his surprising success is, of course, the migration into Northern Virginia of hundreds of thousands of federal employees, government lobbyists, and special-interest pimps over the last couple of decades (a genuine flood during the last five years).
The Cuccinelli campaign has been waiting for people to wake up and realize - I'm voting for this guy?
It happened in the Democratic primary of 2009.

A paper that makes a decision

The newspaper in the state capital failed to make an endorsement for Virginia governor.
It's up to a paper in the coalfields to boost Ken Cuccinelli.
However, after careful consideration and debate, we endorse Cuccinelli for governor of Virginia. And our endorsement is based upon his past and current support for the coal industry of Southwest Virginia. It is clear to us that Terry McAuliffe is aligned with Barack Obama when it comes to Washington’s destructive war on coal. He’s said as much to Richmond-based reporters by openly endorsing the Obama administration’s controversial new EPA rules.
We would hope that it would be clear to voters that Ken Cuccinelli is the best and only logical choice for the future of the coalfields of Southwest Virginia. A vote for Ken Cuccinelli is a vote against Obama and his foolish war on coal. And it’s a vote for the future of Southwest Virginia and the Commonwealth as a whole.
Save jobs in the coalfields.
Vote for Cuccinelli.

Bullies for the class clown

The Northern Virginia Technology Council offers its endorsement to Ken Cuccinelli for governor.
Friends of class clown Terry McAuliffe weren't happy.
They won't invite NVTC to their parties now.
Democratic state Sen. Janet D. Howell of Fairfax County wrote in an email to Young and others that she found the endorsement “incomprehensible” and that the response by Senate Democrats to the NVTC — which has never endorsed a Democrat for governor — “will be frigid and doors will be closed.”
Is this the crew you want running the state?

Levin large

Blue Virginia seems very unimpressed with Mark Levin joining Ken Cuccinelli for a campaign event.
He provides a list of Levin's best.
Read and you'll be impressed.

Time to get cracking

A new poll shows Ken Cuccinelli six points behind Terry McAuliffe in the governor's race.
Doesn't seem possible if you've seen McAuliffe in action.
Doesn't seem like a likely electorate to the people at Bearing Drift.
Even Blue Virginia has questions.
INDEED, if you presume that the 2009 turnout model will prevail again, then the Q-Poll would have Cuccinelli up by 4 percentage points with the same numbers.
INDEED # 2, IF YOU STUDY THE Q-Poll, the normal markers of a VA GUV race make it a DEAD EVEN RACE. Why?
The normative turnout on election day would not be either +7 Democrat or + 4 Republican. It would be closer to +2 give or take depending on what happens in the last month of the campaign.
Whatever the numbers, time to get on the Cuccinelli bandwagon.

Why Cuccinelli wins

It's a close race for governor in Virginia.
So many ads - mostly against Ken Cuccinelli - already.
But I think Cuccinelli will win easily.
Why?
Terry McAuliffe will get a better offer from China or Mississippi before Election Day.

Who's going to vote?

Chris Saxman looks at the numbers for Virginia gubernatorial elections in recent years.
Each Terry McAuliffe commercial probably scares at least one voter away.

Give Virginia an education

Ken Cuccinelli provided some new ideas for improving education Tuesday.
To go along with his other proposals he's already brought out.
His agenda is an agenda to get behind.

Look at the whiffy record

Smitty casts an eye toward the Virginia gubernatorial race.
While it’s likely that McAuliffe will do well amongst the junior Gollums infesting Northern Virginia, who keep re-electing the likes of ‘Gentleman’ Jim Moran and ‘Merry’ Gerry Connolly, is the rest of the state so decadent as to send a no-talent clown like McAuliffe to Richmnod? As we research more of McAuliffe’s rather whiffy record, one wonders how he will do at the next debate, in September. One does not expect Cuccinelli to get any less Irish or Italian in his onslaught. One also does not expect McAuliffe to be “packin’ the gear” enough to pick up his end. It would cut into his fundraising time.
Do we want a class clown leading our state?

I build cars. Really.

Bearing Drift offers a report from a Memphis TV station - trying to find life at Terry McAuliffe's green car company in Mississippi.
And he plans to do the same for areas of Virginia looking for jobs.

The idea men

Jeff Shapiro of the Times-Dispatch notes the advantage Republicans have in 2013 - candidates who inspire the base.
The core Republican vote — drown-the-government libertarians, anti-taxers, abortion opponents, gun-rights advocates, home-schoolers and anti-gay activists — will be there for Cuccinelli et al in November. That’s because the GOP grass roots view their 2013 candidates as they view themselves: as believers.
They are committed to ideas. They vote their hearts. They have — in Cuccinelli, Jackson and Obenshain — candidates who speak to both. They have seen effective conservative governance in Richmond, despite Gov. Bob McDonnell’s betrayal of the Republican no-new-taxes creed. And they have stacked the deck, carving legislative districts that literally and figuratively keep Virginia — in the aggregate, a centrist state — on the right course.
They have something worth defending.

Show me the settlement money

Ken Cuccinelli showed good timing Wednesday - holding a press conference about federal money being withheld hours before the IRS released the money.
We all know Terry McAuliffe can shake the money tree - for himself.
Cuccinelli shook the money tree for all Virginians.

Cheers for Cuccinelli

American Spectator likes Ken Cuccinelli.
Time for the rest of Virginia Republicans to join up.
Unless they prefer Terry McAuliffe to a Republican administration.

No power

The Republicans have done a great job splitting the Democrats on energy policy.
After talking up oil and gas exploration off the coast, Senators Warner and Kaine support the approach.
As does gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe.
Liberals are steaming.
Maybe we should put them in a room and use the steam for power generation.
It will take a lot of liberals to match the energy production of coal.

That's the ticket

The Republican ticket for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General are making the rounds of the state.
It's the Valley's turn for a stop Monday morning, and they will be in Charlottesville Tuesday morning after some stops in the western and southern parts of the state.
We'll be see so much more of them the next five-plus months.

Conventional wisdom

Bearing Drift writer survived Republican convention Saturday, and barely lived to tell about it.
And despite the miracles of modern communication, cell phones, Bearing Drift and our livestream, John Frederick’s live broadcast, email, Facebook and Twitter, the convention floor was still rife with rumors and nonsense, including the fake/rescinded endorsement controversy between Corey Stewart and Pete Snyder on the final ballot. Conventioneers were treated like fungi – kept in the dark and fed crap – and that inevitably had an impact on the final selection of E.W. Jackson as our Lt. Governor nominee.  Information trickled out of the counting area, and it was left to bloggers and social media to keep convention goers in the know.  And given the length of the convention, cell phones were dying or dead far before the convention was gaveled closed at 10:30 Saturday night.
True, there are many better ways to spend a spring Saturday than inside the convention.
You've got to be a true believer.
Now, can those true believers convince enough of the state on the wisdom of their choices.