Virginians Can't Miss Ken Cuccinelli Until He's Gone

     Cuccinelli is many things-one thing is that he's obsessed with sodomy as he tried as Bob McDonnell's AG to bring back anti-sodomy laws. Another is that he's virulently opposed to abortion even in the case of rape or the life of the mother. He was also stridently anti-immigration and against Obamacare. 

    http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/11/05/2888221/cuccinelli-defeat-wing-record/

    Another we've learned after his defeat to Terry McAuliffe yesterday: he's a very poor sport as he refused to call McAuliffe up to congratulate him:

    "Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) had not called Democrat Terry McAuliffe after losing the Virginia gubernatorial race and had no plans to do so as of late Wednesday morning, according to a report in The Washington Post."

Cuccinelli has already publicly conceded he lost the race.

     "At a press conference later on Wednesday McAuliffe said he had still not heard from Cuccinelli.
"I have not had the opportunity yet to speak to the attorney general," McAuliffe said. 

    "The fact that Cuccinelli has not called underscores how bitter the Virginia gubernatorial race was for both candidates. Much of the advertising by both Cuccinelli and McAuliffe's campaign was negative. And despite public polling ahead of Election Day showing McAuliffe with a wide lead over Cuccinelli, the now governor-elect only narrowly defeated Cuccinelli."

     http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-cuccinelli-has-no-plans-to-call-mcauliffe

     It's a welcome sign that a Democrat is back at the helm in Virginia and while Virginia has been known as a red state in recent years, this has now changed as this is the first time since the Nixon Administration that the GOP is actually locked out of statewide office. 

     It's also a welcome break to the radical agendas the state GOP had been pursuing-like Governor McDonnell's very invasive mandatory vaginal ultrasounds for all women who seek an abortion in the state. 

    While a radical social and economic agenda has been pursued by many state GOPs it stops in Virginia. Many Dems see Cuccinelli's defeat at the hands of a candidate that certainly had his share of baggage-with his long associations with the Clintons-as being all about the House GOP and hopefully an omen for 2014.

     "House Republicans and Ken Cuccinelli’s agenda are one and the same, and swing voters unequivocally rejected that agenda on Tuesday."

     "From attacking women’s rights to make their own health care decisions and opposition to immigration reform to an obsessive focus on undermining health care reform and rejection of gay Americans’ full equality, Ken Cuccinelli’s agenda has been in lockstep with that of House Republicans," the memo said. "The Republicans in this Congress who will be on the ballot next year are not Chris Christie Republicans – the only Republican to survive Tuesday’s trouncing. They were elected by and are beholden to the Tea Party."

    "The memo comes a day after Democrat Terry McAuliffe eked out a slim victory over Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor's race and former state Sen. Bradley Byrne (R) defeated tea party-backed conservative activist Dean Young in a Republican runoff for Alabama's first congressional district. The results were read as a victory over the tea party and conservative Republicans. "

     http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/dccc-memo-house-republicans-agenda-common-weight-bringing-down-cuccinelli-and-gop

     Best of all, the Dems think they saw McAuliffe employ a strategy that it will pay the Dems to emulate. 

    "Democrat Terry McAuliffe eked out a narrow victory in the Virginia governor's race on Tuesday night, defeating Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) and Libertarian candidate Rob Sarvis. McAuliffe's victory speech focused on bipartisanship. He thanked the Republicans who backed him in the race and said the victory was hard fought."

    "This election was never a choice between Democrats and Republicans," McAuliffe said. "It was an election over whether Virginia would continue the mainstream bipartisan tradition that served us so well."

    "McAuliffe's win ends months of him leading Cuccinelli in most polls. It also marks a victory for a number of outside groups that poured millions in the race in support of McAuliffe and against Cuccinelli like Independence USA PAC and Planned Parenthood."

     "Democrats see the victory as proof that hitting conservative candidates on their tea party leanings can win elections."

    "The Republican brand has become the tea party brand. They are inseparable now," Democratic National Committee Communications Director Mo Elleithee told TPM. "Kind of take a step back from just Virginia. Joe Lhota up in New York, where they haven't elected a Democrat in 20 years, spent the entire general election trying to distance himself from the Republican Party brand, even though he previously called himself a Goldwater Conservative, tried to distance himself from the Republican brand. That didn't work. Polling is showing that for the first time the tea party and the Republican Party are polling at the same abysmal level."

     "The idea, Elleithee continued, is to tie Republicans to the tea party as tightly as possible."

    "People don't see a distinction between the two," Elleithee continued. "And both brands are weaker than ever. This is becoming a referendum on the Republican Party."

    "Even before polls closed Tuesday night the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had already sent out a campaign email to supporters capitalizing on an expected McAuliffe win. The email cited contentious Senate races around the country as examples where the same strategy of hitting Cuccinelli could work."

    "Faced with a choice between a reckless and irresponsible candidate who backs the Tea Party agenda and Democrats willing to push for responsible solutions to the problems our nation faces, Democrats win," the email said. "And unfortunately for national Republicans, their Senate candidates in North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alaska, Georgia, Kentucky, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, and West Virginia have made it clear they're on the side of Ted Cruz and Ken Cuccinelli. On the government shutdown, women's issues, and jobs and the economy, voters in Virginia tonight will reject their platform."

     http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/dems-hope-to-use-same-strategy-as-mcauliffe-elsewhere

     The GOP's 'strategy-call it the 'ostrich strategy'-is only going to get tougher in the coming years. This is a party determined to learn nothing the easy way, assuming they are willing to learn anything at all, indeed, there's no evidence whatsoever that they are.