I’m still skeptical about the Republican party breaking in two but this is would be a high profile schism:
Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) “is considering whether to return to the Virginia governor’s race as an independent, and he’s asking for a little help from his friends to make his decision,” the Washington Post reports.
I don’t know anything about Virginia politics, so maybe this is s dumb question: how do you Virginians feel about potentially having to pull the lever for Terry McAuliffe? If Bolling splits the Republican vote enough, might you stay at home, knowing Cuccinelli won’t win anyway?
Va Highlander
I don’t want another Republican, so what choice do I have?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
As a Texan who did Navy time in VA, all I have to say is: You Democrats had better not stay home for any reason.
LGRooney
Hell no! McAuliffe ain’t perfect in my eyes but, then again, if I want perfect in a candidate, I’ll run myself. He’s okay. Yes, he’s from the corporate wing of the Democratic party but he is still an acceptable liberal.
c u n d gulag
What you just smelled, is Cooch soiling his pants.
Culture of Truth
I don’t believe in not voting. It’s kind of self indulgent, and what’s the point? What does it accomplish.
walden
Not a fan of McAuliffe. He’s never done anything to warrant anyone’s support – never stood for anything in Virginia; never held political office; no civic engagement as far as I’ve heard. Is still a complete unknown, apparently running on the theory that he has a lot of wealthy donors. Interesting, Bolling, while very conservative, is a principled guy, not terrible on the environment. It will be a strange race if Bolling gets in.
DecidedFenceSitter
I’ll vote for Terry. Beats the alternative. Either of them.
schrodinger's cat
One of the reasons I was not for Hillary in 2008 was she had acolytes like McAuliffe and Lanny Davis.
Elizabelle
I have not seen anything to make me enthusiastic about Terry McAuliffe. I am wishing desperately for a better and more appealing candidate.
That said, at least even odds that Cuccinelli is statewide poison. I don’t think he’s electable.
Oddly, we’re told that Governor Transvaginal Bob McDonnell’s is still popular (among someone …), but Cuccinelli is the most radical of the radical. On a tear against Obamacare and UVa’s global warming scientists.
And Cuccinnelli is seen for the radical he is.
McDonnell campaigned in sheep’s clothing, and won. He seemed like such a nice moderate guy. A lot of voters who weren’t paying attention got shocked at what McDonnell would support, or didn’t try to stop.
Paul in KY
You do your duty & pull the McAuliffe lever. Only correct answer here.
Paul in KY
@schrodinger’s cat: Lanny ain’t running.
Sasha
There will not be another democratic candidate; McAuliffe is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. My husband likes him a lot. Me, not so much but then I supported Creigh Deeds and look how well that worked out. Most of the people I know in Democratic politics like McAuliffe fine so maybe he’ll work out. I am worried about the carpet bagger issue but I guess we’ll see. On the plus side, Cuccinelli is a raving lunatic so that might help.
Elizabelle
I have not met a single person who’s enthusiastic about Terry McAuliffe.
I’ve talked to some local Democrats who’ve been told to fall into line.
I wonder how a Tom Periello would fare. He’s more liberal, but he connects with voters and has been elected to Congress from Virginia’s Northern Neck.
max
how do you
Virginianspeople who live in VA feel about potentially having to pull the lever for Terry McAuliffe?Not happy? Kinda like votin’ for Joe Manchin is the feeling I have this point. If McAuliffe has a good chance to win (tied or ahead in the polls), then I’ll probably vote for him.
However, should circumstances arise such that Bolling might win and McAuliffe won’t, I just might go for Bolling.
max
[‘I would still vote D downballot, such as the downballot around here is.’]
Elizabelle
@Sasha:
Yeah, I liked Creigh Deeds too.
Why does your husband like McA?
General Stuck
Not in an official context of two separate parties, but in practical effect for retail politics and the primary election process, they are fairly split apart right now. If history is any guide though, the disparate groups that form the unstable GOP matrix, will eventually meld into a single force for national elections.
They are often in direct conflict over basic issues, but do have some prevailing similarities, such as a dislike of liberal philosophy, and a grinding compulsion to have power and control that comes with the WH and presidency. At some point, if they can find a viable charismatic candidate that can tame the hydra head center right political beast, the need for that power and control will overcome their self centered demons, and they will politick as a single party unit
amk
Really ? After 2010 and 2012 ?
shortstop
@Elizabelle:
You know, that pisses me off, because I was sitting here in Illinois with no skin in the game and I was paying attention and could see what his deal was. I’m really sick of fake moderates getting away with it because people can’t be bothered to notice stuff right in front of them. I include my own junior senator in that assessment, so I’m not just kicking Virginia when it’s down.
nevsky42
Bolling’s a non-starter; I’d be surprised if he got Nader numbers. Maybe there a few disenfranchised Repubs and people in the business community that would vote for him, but it’s only partly true that Cooch would have crushed him in the primary because the social conservative wing controls Virginia Republicans, Bolling’s also as dull as dishwater.
I’d love to have Perriello back in office, but I will be voting for McAuliffe with an enthusiasm that Terry probably doesn’t deserve…
Cassidy
You vote for the rock if it has a D next to it’s name. Anything else is irresponsible.
Now, if we could get The Rock, to run as a Dem, that would be frickin’ sweet.
amk
@General Stuck: Yup. The wingers will be there on the voting day whoever is their candidate, unlike the whiny left. I admire them for it.
schrodinger's cat
@Paul in KY: Oh I know and I also agree that anyone with a D after their name is better than any Republican.
EconWatcher
I can’t stand the prospect of voting for McAuliffe, but I’ll do what I have to do.
I’m trying to remember if this is the most distasteful candidate I’ve ever had to support in my several decades of voting. In retrospect, I suppose Lieberman for VP was the most distasteful, but I didn’t realize it at the time.
MattF
I’m a Marylander, so I have an opinion on this… I think McAuliffe will beat Cooch easily in NoVa. But Rest-of-Virginia is a different story, with long-standing sensitivities about carpetbagging. I can see Cooch coming out ahead there, with McAuliffe and Bolling splitting the reality-based vote.
shortstop
@EconWatcher: I didn’t enjoy voting for Blagojevich or Giannoulias, but I did it. Have courage!
Neddie Jingo
@Elizabelle:
Yeah, and he was running against Creigh Deeds, who was a spectacularly unspectacular candidate.
In a two-way race between Carpetbagger McAuliffe and Batshit Loon Cuccinelli, I know where my duty lies. In a three-way race, I’ll still pull the lever for McA, but I’ll be mostly rooting for injuries. That would be entertaining indeed.
Neddie Jingo
Love the title, by the way…
LGRooney
@Elizabelle: I liked Deeds as well but am still confused by the distaste for McAuliffe. He’s truly not a bad guy, is a lifelong Democrat, and has never shown any tendencies to go off the liberal reservation. On a personal level, he’s not my type because I am as far from a salesman as you could get. But, he is ideal for a politician in that he knows how to raise money and is a smart guy who knows how to deal. Furthermore, he is a liberal… really. What’s the issue? Or am I not enough a cool kid to get it?
Roger Moore
@Cassidy:
That’s the way to Rock The Vote!
karen
@walden:
So…either you won’t vote or you’ll vote for Bolling? I guess vaginal ultrasound wasn’t enough for you. I hope you enjoy “Don’t Say Gay,” laws, Virginia schools teaching that Jews are evil and doctors having the option not tell pregnant women they’re sick if they feel that she might take medicine that might kill the baby.
Do whatever you want. I know that right now, any Democrat is better than even the most moderate Republican. I’m a pragmatic realist.
Your non-vote for McA, whether it’s not voting or voting for Bolling won’t matter to me.
I live in Maryland.
Sasha
@Elizabelle: Well, you haven’t met my husband and seriously, I’ve met many more people who are also pretty enthusiastic.
I love Tom Perriello. I sent him an email asking to him to run for governor and promising support. I supported his last run for congress which he came damn close to winning. But he’s not getting in the race at this point.
karen
@LGRooney:
No. You, unlike a lot of Dems don’t want a repeat of 2010.
EconWatcher
@LGRooney:
I don’t claim clairvoyance, but sometimes you get a vibe. I knew from the first time I saw him that there was something wrong with John Edwards, that he was not to be trusted. I have the same reaction to McAuliffe.
But like I said, I’ve got no choice, so I’ll do what I have to do.
Seanly
I voted for the Alvin Greene over Jim DeMint in 2010. Surely Democrats in VA can vote for McAuliffe.
Based on how they operate, how they lie & cheat and how I can’t stand a single plank in the local, state or national platforms, I can’t vote for any R for any position.
John Dillinger
Dems staying home in VA in 2009 started the ball rolling on the Tea Party’s 2010. No way I stay home.
Redshirt
You vote for the Dems you have not the Dems you wish you had.
plosin
As a 20+ year resident of northern VA, my duty is clear. McAuliffe is not my kind of democrat, but as many have said (and this especially true in VA these days) any democrat is better than any republican. I can imagine circumstances in which that would not be true, but they are so distant from current reality that they can safely be ignored.
Just Some Fuckhead
Not a fan of McAwful but it’s been so long since the Clinton years I can’t remember now why I hated him.
Cassidy
@Roger Moore: He takes Florida hands down.
Omnes Omnibus
@EconWatcher:
OTOH, we can trust people like Cuccinelli – trust them to be right-wing assholes. So, like you said, you do what you have to do.
Redshirt
@Just Some Fuckhead: “Barack Obama….”
That should be enough to jog your memory. Oh, those glorious days of the 2008 Democratic Primary. It was legitimately exciting.
I was an Obot from day one so McCauliffe was the temporary enemy, but only because he was not supporting Obama at the time.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Redshirt: I wasn’t asking to be reminded. :)
amy c
I’m a Virginian and an employee of the Commonwealth, too.
I’ll vote for McAuliffe. I don’t stay home on voting day regardless, but especially when Ken Fucking Cuccinelli is on the ballot. There is not anyone I want to see win this election less than him.
Sasha
@Elizabelle: Typing for hubby “I like him because he’s a businessman and a reliable democrat. He has his own green car company, which I think is cool. He’s promised to support Medicaid expansion. And right now we just need a strong, energetic candidate who will support the President.”
Zifnab
@Just Some Fuckhead: Just get him in front of a camera and let him open his mouth. :-p
That said, I don’t see any virtue in not voting. I’m sure the Governor’s race isn’t the only one on the ticket anyway. So go vote straight ticket Dem, and just hold your nose when you get to his part of the ballot.
Is there any reason not to vote for the guy, other than “Bleh, he’s such a damn tool”?
the Conster
You don’t get more and better Dems without having more Dems first. Any Dem who doesn’t vote for any Dem they can needs a punch in the neck.
Villago Delenda Est
@General Stuck:
Fixed
Redshirt
@Sasha: Can’t argue with that.
He’s not perfect, but he’s not that bad either. And it needs to be pounded into anyone in the Pony/Unicorn/Nader corner of the party that ANY Democrat is better than ANY Republican, and this is really all you need to know about ANY election or issue, at this time in American history.
FlipYrWhig
@LGRooney:
I’ve never gotten it either. Yes, he’s smiley and slick. He has a salesman-ish affect. Is that really all? Or is this one of these Eternal 2004 blogosphere things where he was more on the Rahm! side than on the Deaniac side and we’re never supposed to forget that? Or an Eternal 2008 thing where he was more on the Hillary! side than on the Obama side? I don’t even know anymore. And I’m out of shits to give.
To me McAuliffe is like the inverse of Webb. Webb is authentic and cranky and doesn’t suffer fools gladly and conservative on spending and cultural issues but good on class and (white) poverty. McAuliffe strikes me as insincere and glad to grip-and-grin with anyone, pro-business but liberal on social issues. Am I wrong?
Unless I’ve missed something, some kind of important ideological heresy, I don’t see why McAuliffe gets this ick factor from the blogosphere.
Eric U.
as someone who grew up in Virginia, the idea that you have a choice of sitting at home annoys me more than a little. The difference between a conservadem and a Republican is rather stark, no need to take any chances. I helped elect one a conservadem in my congressional district in southwest Virginia. He was often annoying, but he would occasionally do something good, and he always voted for the democrats in leadership positions. So it would be crazy to skip a vote because he wasn’t perfect
FlipYrWhig
@Eric U.: And is McAuliffe even “conservative”?
Roger Moore
@LGRooney:
Lack of ponies.
MikeJ
@FlipYrWhig:
Eternal 1996 I think. The purity trolls were extra strong during the Clinton years, and Terry Mac was DLC personified.
Eric U.
@FlipYrWhig: I tried to edit my comment, but fywp. I probably could remember why McAuliffe annoys me so much if I strained myself. He’s one of those annoying 3rd way triangulators that always is doing something that he probably shouldn’t just to look like he is post-partisan or something. I.e. hurting other Democrats to make himself look better in front of the village. But I figure he’d probably be like Rendell, annoying and corporatist but a pretty good Governor. Particularly if you compare him to a republican crazy (but I repeat myself) like Cuccinelli
acallidryas
@Elizabelle: I’d love to see Periello run, but he’s already announced that he won’t be running for governor.
I feel like we’ve done this question here before. I’m not enthusiastic about McAuliffe, either, but I would never take a risk that Cuccinelli would get in. I will vote for, donate to, and canvas for McAuliffe this fall. And it will not be a difficult decision at all.
FlipYrWhig
@Eric U.: @MikeJ: My sense is similar, that McAuliffe is one of those pro-business, pro-corporate Democrats. But I don’t think he’s someone who wants to screw the poor or cut funding to education or stop women from having access to health care or declare war on Iran or anything like that. He seems like the kind of Democrat who’s vastly lesser than the ideal crusading liberal populist, but, you know, it’s the Confederacy, that’s not who gets elected here.
lojasmo
@EconWatcher:
I agree with this. I think McA would sell his anal crust as breakfast cereal.
I would still vote for him if I lived in VA, UNLIKE Edwards. If I had ever needed to pull the lever for him, I would have instead severed both of my hands.
shortstop
@Just Some Fuckhead: Maybe you didn’t hate him. Maybe you just mocked him.
kathleen
Not excited about Terry, but what choice do I have? He’ll be another Mark Warner but that sure beats anything on the GOP side, and given the GOP side, no Democrat should stay home ever, ever, ever. When are all these DLC centrists going to go away?
marge
@Elizabelle: I love Perriello but it ain’t gonna happen. I’ll hold my nose and vote for Terry.
Biff Longbotham
Displaced Chicagoan that I am, I will (reluctantly) vote early and often for Terry McAuliffe to avoid 4 years of The Cooch.
Original Lee
@amy c: A number of wingnut friends of mine in VA are saying they would rather vote for Bolling, even if he runs as an independent, than Cucinelli. For most of them, Cucinelli has personally done something to them to piss them off. I wonder how many other VA folk will carry a grudge long enough to vote for Bolling.
Kay
I’m from Md., but I spent a lot of time working in Fairfax County during the 2012 election. I was a little surprised by the positive opinion of McAuliffe among Va. activists I worked with. They were all looking forward to working on his campaign in 2013.
I don’t know why I have such a negative opinion of McAuliffe. I guess it’s like EconoWatcher said: there’s just something off about him. That said, I would vote for him if I were a Va. resident, and may even campaign for him. It’s just that important to have Dems in state-level positions, and to keep Repubs away from as many levers of power as possible.
shortstop
@Original Lee:
Like what? Share!
eemom
iz you a-trolling me? I regard stayers at home for ANY reason other than physical incapacity as somewhere beneath vermin, as I’ve made clear many times.
I think Bolling could actually win, also too.
Kay
@Eric U.:
Yes, that’s it. That’s what’s wrong with McAuliffe. Still, as you say, he’ll get my time and money, if not my vote (since I’m not a Va. resident).
Original Lee
@shortstop: Such as, refusing to investigate Medicare fraud and patient dumping at Inova Fairfax hospital, after a whistleblower was “constructively discharged”.
Such as, at a fundraiser, possibly unintentionally, blowing off the hostess in favor of schmoozing someone he wanted to host another fundraiser.
Such as, using his allegedly superior busyness to jump the line at the coffee shop (when getting his coffee in person).
Stuff like that. Hard to know how valid any of it is, except of course these stories are from people I know.
eemom
AND, it already is a schism. Whether Bolling runs or not, no effing way is he getting behind Kook, because this is personal for him — Kook stabbed him in the back and stole this nomination from him. He’s come right out and said, in essence, I’m a loose cannon with nothing to lose.
It’ll be interesting to see what Bobby McD, who really can’t afford to piss off the freakazoid contingent, does, however.
Marc
@Paul in KY: Yes. Dems staying at home would be the thing that lets Cuccinelli win.
I cannot believe this blog, of all places, is contemplating progressive purity protests. If there were another Democrat in the primary race, by all means back him. But when Ken Cuccinelli is on the ballot, abstinence is not an option.
Lowkey
@eemom:
I’d be surprised. The Tea Party is regrettably strong here in Virginia, and the Cooch is their hero, because he harasses all the right liberals. Therefore, Bolling is Insufficiently Conservative (even before he became complicit in *gasp* TAX INCREASES), and they will never vote for him. Bolling could certainly peel off the country club Republicans, who are very quietly quite uncomfortable with screaming idiocy, but they don’t have the numbers.
shortstop
@Original Lee: These are all reasons to be pissed off, but I’m a little surprised and much heartened that you know some wingnuts who would agree.
LGRooney
@kathleen: I think he’d be infinitely better than a Mark Warner. Warner is the epitome of the wannabe serious, inside-the-beltway, my fellow Dems are just as bad as these GOP, can’t we meet in the middle somewhere even if the other side keeps moving the goalposts, mealy-mouthed spineless twit.
If you want to know how I really feel…
I think McAuliffe is the real deal. As I said, I wouldn’t want to have a beer with him because he’d forget my name as soon as another person showed up and by the time he got back to me to shake my hand for “the first time” I’d want to drive a rusty spoon through his chest. I don’t like smarm and salesmanship. And, as much as he is a Democratic insider, I don’t see him as the Sunday AM talk-show regular because I don’t see him as the type to explain away his own stance on an issue but rather drive the point home while smiling away, patting you on the back (right where the shiv is) with one hand, while collecting money with the other.
In short, I see him as a Joe Biden with business chops type.
Paul in KY
@schrodinger’s cat: I wish I could have unsent that one. Sorry to bug you.
James Hare
I’ve got to get myself registered to vote in Virginia real soon–so much moving in the past year…
I’ll vote for McAuliffe. I’m not enthusiastic but my cat would be a better governor than Cooch.
elmo
@Redshirt:
Yes. This. Times infinity. With cherries on top.
walden
@karen: No, won’t stay home. But it’s astounding to me what a cipher McAuliffe is, even after his previous run. I pay a lot of attention to politics – have never met a single person who is enthused about the guy — not one. I guess his fundraising abilities took any other potential candidate out of the race. But really, shouldn’t we have some sense of who the guy is after all this time?
Steve
My governor is Chris Christie. I would kiss an orangutan for the opportunity to be governed by someone like Terry McAuliffe instead, no matter how “unenthusiastic” he might make me on his own.
Ken
I hate Terry, but I assume Bolling is for the whole forced ultrasound thing for abortions that the GOP here in Virginia is all about. Guess I have to pull the lever for Terry.
Just Some Fuckhead
@eemom:
Unpossible. He’s the Absentee-Lieutenant-Governor-For-Life.
No one even knows who he is.
schrodinger's cat
@Paul in KY: No I is not bugged, no apologies necessary.
var
Would definitely vote against Coochie.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Steve:
Chris Christie is the real deal. He’s a first-tier candidate for the hearts and minds of the broad centrist political consensus. He’s a hard-charging, truth-talking Daddy who understands that when tragedy strikes, average Americans aren’t interested in ideology. They want pragmatic solutions like a walking tour of the affected areas.
I would crawl over broken levees to pull the lever for Chris Christie.
rikyrah
not a Virginian, but the changing of the rules of the game, willy nilly, would irritate me if I was Bolling.
rikyrah
@shortstop:
I’m with you.
Mofo went to LIBERTY UNIVERSITY.
that should have said it ALL for you.
gene108
@kathleen:
When a raging-populist-declare-war-on-poverty-pro-union-pro-choice-pro-gay-marriage Presidential candidate wins 400+ EV like Reagan did twice and Bush, Sr. did in 1988.
rikyrah
I think Charlie Crist is a human oil slick.
But, if I lived in Florida, I’d vote for him.
I’d have no choice.
Sure in hell won’t NOT vote and put Lex Luthor back in office.
shortstop
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Delicious.
Penus
@Elizabelle:
Perriello represented Charlottesville and points south, not the NN. I voted for him proudly when I was living in C’ville. He did a great job.
Thomas F
McAuliffe is a rancid cesspool of a human being and a Clintonite apparatchik to the dead end. At the right price, he would sell himself.
eemom
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I say. That is some serious awesome sauce there, Fuckster.
KrisWV
@rikyrah: No, McDonnell went to Notre Dame and Boston University. Then he finished his eduction with a joint MBA/JD at what was known at the time as “Christian Broadcasting Network University”. (It’s now called Regent University). So, not Liberty University.
Not exactly Harvard or Yale, either. But having a diploma with the name of a TV network on it is kinda special. Mine’s from Nickelodeon…
Don
McAuliffe, in person, is every bit as smarmy as you think. I wanted to check my pockets every time we spoke (I took pictures at an event where he spoke).
You can be sure I’ll be voting for him over Cuccinelli.
Tokyokie
Crap, the Virginia lieutenant governor is named Bolling? I’m assuming that means he’s related to Edith Bolling (Woodrow Wilson’s second wife who supposedly ran the country after Wilson’s stroke), who was also from Virginia. Which would mean he’s related to me, as well as the late lead guitarist for the Dwight Twilley Band, and we’re all descended from a Disney cartoon character.
Matt McIrvin
The one election I can think of in which I would have had a strong preference for the Republican over the Democrat was Bill Weld vs. John Silber for Massachusetts governor, 1990. (I was still registered in Virginia at the time, so didn’t vote in that.)
But:
1. It’s doubtful anyone like Bill Weld would end up as a Republican candidate for state office today;
2. From a future-time-traveler perspective, I would have reservations, since that was the start of the string of Republican governors that led to Mitt Romney.
low-tech cyclist
Longtime Virginian, now living in Maryland.
If I were still a VA resident, I’d hold my nose and vote for McAuliffe. It bugs the hell out of me that the primary field’s been cleared for this worthless schmuck, but what’s done is done.
Jinchi
Senate Republicans blocked Weld’s nomination as ambassador to Mexico, and that was in the 1990s. Good luck with the Tea Party generation.
sapient
I will absolutely vote for him. I’ll fall in love with him, if I have to. And besides, what’s wrong with him other than the fact that he’s kind of smarmy? I loved Perriello (and voted for him), but, you know, the purists hated him too (although they love him now) because he prays a lot. You got to cut some people some slack from time to time if they’re willing to brave a political campaign. (I certainly wouldn’t want to do it.)
Tom Paine
As an 81 year old yellow dog Northern Virginia Democrat
who votes in every election and works for Democratic candidates in most elections (but who dislikes Terry McAuliffe), I will vote enthusiastically for Terry. I may even work for him!
Shana
@amk: Not to mention 2009. My area of Fairfax County saw a 25% drop from 2008 Dem turnout vs. 2009 Dem turnout. That’s how Transvaginal Bob, good friend of Pat Roberson, got elected. We’re trying to reverse that this year.
Shana
@Zifnab: Right, we’ve got Atty. General, Lt. Governor, all the House of Delegate, and some State Senate. Our current Lt. Governor (Bolling) is able to break some tie votes in the State Senate because it’s evenly split between R and D. Since he’s a Republican, that gives effective control on many votes to the GOP. This matters People.