Cuccinelli publicly mulls a run against Warner
By Norman Leahy | Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 | Politics, VirginiaThe political doldrums are beginning to ease in Virginia. The legislative primaries are rapidly approaching. Henrico county is re-enacting a forgotten episode of Peyton Place and Anita Kumar interviews Ken Cuccinelli, who dangles the possibility that that he might challenge Mark Warner for the Senate in 2014.
For those keeping score at home, this is not news. For the wider world that thinks of politics only when the ads become impossible to avoid, it might be news. Somewhere between his victory speech in 2009 and his actual swearing-in as Attorney General, Cuccinelli has entertained any and all possibilities regarding his political future (though, remarkably, he has avoided speculation that he, and not Tim Tebow, will eventually quarterback the Denver Broncos. But there’s still time…).
And even in the criticisms he aims at Warner in Anita’s piece, there’s the ring of nostalgia. Back in 2005, Richmond Times-Dispatch sports writer Paul Woody had a piece highlighting Virginia’s political all-stars and their hoop dreams. It still stands as one of the better pieces ever written about Warner and Cuccinelli:
One evening, [Del. Chris] Jones put Warner and [Sen. Ken]Cuccinelli on the same team.
It was a bit of a risky pairing since the state senator and governor have few issues on which they agree politically.
And, in a letter to the Times-Dispatch in 2003, Cuccinelli criticized Warner for his, “failure of leadership.”
“The one night we got to play together, we won three straight, which is the maximum you can win before you get thrown off the court,” Cuccinelli said.
“I was joking with him that if we worked this well together on taxes, we could lower them instead of raising them, hoping he would take me up on the offer. He thought it was more funny than a serious proposal, so that didn’t go anywhere.”
But maybe Cuccinelli’s efforts had more impact than he realized.
“We’ve had kind of a rough relationship,” Warner said. “But I honest to goodness don’t think we still disagree on most issues.
“I used to be the victim of some of his pot shots in the press, but once you’ve played ball with somebody and you’re on the same team, passing to each other, it’s harder to bash them.”
But while wearing opposing jerseys, the hard fouls will follow…though which man will more closely resemble Bill Laimbeer is an open question.
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About the author
Norm Leahy has written about Virginia and national politics online since 2002, beginning with One Man's Trash (OMT), and continuing through Bacon's Rebellion (both the blog and the e-zine), Sic Semper Tyrannis, NBC12's Decision Virginia, Richmond.com and Tertium Quids. He is the chief blogger at "The Score" and a producer of "The Score" radio show as well as being a Washington Post contributor.
Comments
17 Responses to "Cuccinelli publicly mulls a run against Warner"
What if Warner runs for Governor? (I’ll be good and ignore the bilge from then Gov Warner quoted above.)
BTW has Cooch cleared this with McDonnell?
Val: I had the same thought. If McD isn’t the sitting vice president, he doesn’t have anything on his dance card for 2014. And, frankly, I think he’d have a lot better shot at beating Warner.
Cooch may have a glide path to the nomination, but only if he wins re-election first. I think he has a tough time going for re-election and would be a the losing end of a bid for Governor or Senate.
His best course is to run for re-election and focus on his job. Emerge like Mary Sue Terry did. Blumenthal in Connecticut and Spitzer in NY are other examples of attornies general who spent time in their job and later emerged. At this point, his ladder has no more rungs. If he runs, he loses.
William I agree.Cuccinelli has to spend atleast one more term in his job before he has any chance of moving up.He didn’t do himself any favors with his endorsement in the 22nd.He endorsed the weakest candidate who couldn’t come close to beating the Democrat.The other four good candidates will not forget Cuccinelli’s poor choice and niether will their supporters.Which will be hard to overcome in a primary.You know Republicans don’t forget a stab in the back very easily.
“His best course is to run for re-election and focus on his job. Emerge like Mary Sue Terry did”
Yeah, that worked out so well for her.
Steve – Mary Sue Terry emerged as the front runner and very popular. Cuccinelli is not. In that race, Goerge Allen won because he was truly the better candidate and the Republicans had a good year. As for as her time as Atty Gen, it established her as the front runner and the race was hers to lose.
I wasn’t aware that Cuccinelli was unpopular. Sure, he has passionate haters. After all, look what he’s doing. He will have my support.
Cuccinelli vs. Warner
That is a billboard worthy of pay per view.
No what that will be is a major ass kicking for Cuccinelli.Thats if he could even survive a primary challenge which he wouldn’t.
He may not survive a primary, but he would win a convention, which would allow Cuccinelli to piss away a general election for the Republicans. His election to attorney general is much the same as pissing away an election because instead of developing a statewide candidate for a run for Gov or Sen, we have someone who has maxed out and is destined to lose the next thing he runs for.
Hahaha! You guys are out of you gords!
Let the recod show which Radtke haters are also Cuccinelli haters as well.
Yea, you’re real big on Party First when a RINO is on deck. Get a real conservative that fights for Virginia and gets things done and you might as well be writing Democratic talking points!
Haha! Traitors. Now I understand why the “red baron” won’t use his real name.
Comparing Cuccinelli to “Client No. 9″?
Britt just remember what I told you.Time will tell who was right and who was wrong.As far as me hating Radtke please show me where I ever said that.Im sure Radtke is a fine person she just can’t win a senators seat.
William: Actually Mary Sue’s second term as a.g. raised some profound doubts about her leadership abilities, particularly in handling striking coal miners. Also, she totally fell to pieces during the 1993 campaign. Closest I’ve ever seen to a candidate having a nervous breakdown during a campaign. That said, I’d agree that Allen was the superior candidate. He found an issue that resonated with people and hammered it. His solution to that issue once elected was policy dumb, but the way he played it in the campaign was politics smart.
RB, I meant “hate” politically, not personally. I guess we can therefore take from this that you hate Cuccinelli personally and politically.
Both Radtke and Cuccinelli are both fiscally and socially conservative. You have used strong enough language with Jamie that “trashing” would be an accurate description. I detect a little more venom or aggression in the manner you say she can’t win in other threads. I can respect disagreement and not have an issue. Until the campaign makes even more progress, I can understand the obvious arguements
Can we just settle this bickering with the primary?
I guess the real question is: is it really a discussion of who is the more perfect conservative or is it a discussion of who can win the general election?
It really does not matter who the perfect conservative is. For that, we could have a conservative pissing contest or just crown Barry Goldwater. In any case, Barry Goldwater is dead and he was not elected president. Obamah is as goat phuck liberal as they come and gave away the store and he still got elected, but he did not give away the store until after he got elected. In any case, the one who gets elected gives the State of the Union speach, vetos or signs bills, and appoints judges.
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