Often called “Cooch” by those in the news media, he is a favorite of the Tea Party, he is Virginia’s Attorney General … and he is running for governor.
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| Ken Cuccinelli, running for Governor of Virginia |
His name is Kenneth Thomas “Ken” Cuccinelli II, and pundits say….he is in trouble.
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| Smiling Teaparty overpass protesters want President Obama arrested |
It has been my opinion for several weeks now (and the national if not the local media is starting to pick up on it ) that the gubernatorial dreams of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli may have become collateral damage in the battle waged by Texas Senator Ted Cruz and the extreme political right-wing in the American Congress to bring down a sitting President.
Many people will tell you that the Teaparty “wing” of the Republican party had hoped to milk this governmental shutdown that they engineered to overturn the outcome of the last Presidential election, but bad for them, the American people apparently would have none of it.
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| Local Teaparty bails on Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell |
It would be an irony of the first order if the aborted attempts to cripple President Obama by the Teaparty firebrands in Congress resulted in defeat at the polls of their primary political asset in Virginia.
Many believe as the Virginia Attorney General, Cuccinelli has certainly carried enough water for Teaparty. His attempt to bring down Obamacare through what pundits called “Cuccinelli’s War” made him the stuff of legends among the “conservative” crowd in the Commonwealth.
You would think that getting elected in Old Virginia, where many an old-timer and young buck too think they won the Civil War would be cake for a “conservative” candidate like Ken Cuccinelli and his ilk, especially since his political opponent in this current campaign, a fella named Terry McAuliffe, is hardly a political heavyweight or household name and inspires no passion even among the radical left.
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| President Barrack Obama, a winner in Virginia |
That may have been true last century but Harry Byrd is long time dead, the political world is very different today. It’s fair to say that during the last two Presidential elections the extreme right-wing operatives in the Commonwealth of Virginia were shocked…shocked at how easily President Barack Obama was able to sweep them aside and claim victory in this important swing state.
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| Cuccinelli big in Teaparty hotspot Hanover County |
It’s difficult to tell where Cuccinelli comes down on the Teaparty these days.
When “shutdown” author Texas right-wing firebrand Senator Ted Cruz was in town a week or so ago, you did not see General Cuccinelli share the stage with Cruz even though they were both speakers at the Family Foundation of Virginia Gala.
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| South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley stumps for Cuccinelli |
And yet a week or so later he was all smiles as he squired Teaparty darlin’ South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley around the Commonwealth.
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| Governor Nikki Haley all smiles talking shop with Ken Cuccinelli
And you’d be hard pressed to find a more passionate and likable defender of the Teaparty than the energetic Governor Nikki Haley. |
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| General Cuccinelli shows the wear and tear of a hard campaign. |
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| Polls do not bode well for Republican Ken Cuccinelli |
But this gubernatorial hopeful won’t be smiling as he reads the latest polls.
It’s clear that in Virginia the Teaparty is taking the blame for the government shutdown and support for General Cuccinelli, with his close ties to this political movement, is going down with them.
(While the state and local media has yet to pick up on this developing story, it is getting some national play as in this piece that aired on NPR recently.)
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| Gov Nikki Haley |
The troubled campaign of Ken Cuccinelli may have life in it yet though now that cooler heads have prevailed in the Republican House in Congress. Senator Cruz has caved and his Teaparty engineered crises has been short circuited. This is good news for the campaign of Ken Cuccinelli.
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| Teaparty can’t deliver state to Cuccinelli today |
With the election still several weeks away there’s plenty of time for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to put this issue behind him and still claim victory.
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| Abandoned Persimmon Orchard , c 1976 |
After all, his democratic opponent is hardly setting the political world afire and like the Virginia persimmons not yet kissed by frost that grow in abundance in the uncultivated fields that line the highways and byways of Old Virginia, Terry McAuliffe can make right-wing voters pucker and to some is a sour fruit indeed.
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