Now here’s an interesting question. In the midst of tightening polls showing that Cuccinelli is up among independents, McAuliffe was looking for a round of good news to keep his fauxmentum going. Until recently, all the scuttlebutt had been that Cuccinelli had been awarded the endorsement of the very influential Northern Virginia Technology Council PAC — reversing a narrative that had been prattled about by McAuliffe staffers and Bolling detractors alike.
Those efforts haven’t just failed — they’ve been exposed. By the Washington Post.
The reasoning behind the NVTC TechPAC’s nod — Cuccinelli had detailed responses to questions in candidate interviews, three board members said, while McAuliffe was uninformed and superficial — bolsters the view that the Democrat’s breezy style doesn’t sit well with some Virginians. Two of the people said they were leaning toward Cuccinelli before the interviews; one disliked both candidates.
The episode also offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of the high-stakes maneuvering for gubernatorial endorsements. Once the McAuliffe camp’s efforts to reverse the decision became known, Cuccinelli supporters tried to head it off, according to two people directly involved who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential matter.
On a scale of 1 to 10, this ranks at about a 7 folks. If the McAuliffe staffers are that afraid of endorsements from NVTC TechPAC, then something is very, very wrong with McAuliffe’s internals. Winning campaigns don’t sweat endorsements like that.
On the other hand, this proves that the Cuccinelli reshuffle as reported on by the Virginia Pilot is having its impact. It’s no small secret that there’s a renewed energy and emphasis on grassroots. Whether it was a reshuffle or a shifting of gears is another thing altogether. Pete Snyder (who shows no signs of going away in Virginia politics) had just about the clearest assertion of the staff upgrades:
“I come from corporate world,” said Cuccinelli campaign finance committee co-chair Pete Snyder. “When you say ‘shakeup,’ somebody lost their job. In this case, people got more responsibility, and I think, as a co-finance chair, I think we need to make sure that all of our volunteers, all of our operatives and all of our staff are packed to the gills. It’s all hands on deck for the next 52 days.”
Guess what? It’s working folks. Endorsements coming down from places McAuliffe cannot afford to lose them plus an extremely shallow grassroots effort from DPVA could signal that McAuliffe as indeed peaked too soon.
The current debate now is what should Terry McAuliffe do to re-energize his own campaign after months of speculating on Cuccinelli’s campaign. Effectively, McAuliffe has two options:
(1) Shift gears and focus on policy, thus dispelling fears that he’s all cash and no substance. This is probably the riskiest of all options, because McAuliffe arguably is at a disadvantage against Cuccinelli on virtually every single topic facing Virginia politics. Talk of education reform was a punch to the gut two weeks ago, and McAuliffe has yet to regain his footing from what was arguably the best press week for Cuccinelli all campaign. McAuliffe has to emerge with his own “big idea” that demonstrates that Team Terry will do more than occupy the Executive Mansion.
(2) Double down and go hardcore negative. Let’s face it — depending on which polls you believe McAuliffe is very near 50%, while Cuccinelli’s negatives are very close to his positives. Rather than focus on solutions, to a wily and cynical political operative, it makes far more sense to dump $3 million trying to convince Virginia that Cuccinelli is more scuzzy than McAuliffe. Tough job… but someone has to do it. Should this happen — and it appears more and more as if McAuliffe will stick to his DNA and do precisely this — the effort will be to make sure Cuccinelli’s negatives go above 50%. Once that happens, conventional wisdom assumes that Cuccinelli is done for, as it would be in any campaign. The wild card? Cuccinelli is having a hard time convincing his own Republican base that he can lead Virginia responsibly. You read that right: the Bolling holdouts are literally holding the election in their hands.
Of course, two things could happen as well: (a) McAuliffe could and probably will choose to do both options #1 and #2. McAuliffe has the money to punch with both fists. Secondly — and this is the wild card — Bolling could hand this election to McAuliffe with a simple endorsement at this rate. On the other hand, this race becomes more than a contest again if Bolling chooses to endorse Cuccinelli in grand fashion. Such and endorsement and grand tour united with a bold policy objective — a big idea — would put almost assure Cuccinelli the nomination.
In short, the entire election…
…rests in this man’s hands.
Statesman or spoiler, Bolling’s reputation — and frankly, the future of the Republican Party of Virginia as a political force — rests in his hands.
UPDATE: The good folks at The Liberty Zone are less than optimistic, as the WaPo article indicates that Bolling tried to stop the NVTC TechPAC endorsement from falling into Cuccinelli’s lap:
This clown has undermined Ken Cuccinelli, as your humble correspondent has previously related, before. However, now it’s obvious that he’s actively supporting McAuliffe, the corporatist Clintonista huckster and former DNC chair the DPV has nominated for governor. Yes, the same guy who said in 2009 when he ran for governor in the Dem primary that he never wanted ‘another coal plant built.’ Bill Bolling doesn’t care about jobs, the economy, Virginians, or the Old Dominion itself. He cares only for his own political ambitions, petty jealousy, and sense of entitlement.
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