In this episode of Virginia Politics On-Demand, State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, candidate for the GOP nomination for Virginia Attorney General, stops by to discuss his campaign, the convention process, Del. Steve Shannon (the presumptive Democratic nominee), his vote on the “Triggerman Rule”, state party chairman Jeff Frederick, and Republican unity (Kinda fun on the unity discussion – he takes me to task for my premise on a divided party following last year’s convention).
Key quotes:
On Del. Shannon – “I will probably be low on money compared to Steve Shannon, but will have spent over a year…putting together a real, live, state-wide organization…the one advantage that I have…is that we have a solid and committed volunteer organization in place committed to us winning this race.”
On being from NoVA – “You know, the transient connections that John (Brownlee) has haven’t really played out …and Dave Foster has been elected up here, but that was to school board, in Arlington, and he wasn’t running as a Republican.”
On “Triggerman” – “Getting rid of the ‘Triggerman Rule’ would have been the biggest expansion of the death penalty since we started executing people again in Virginia in 1976…and I am not comfortable with that massive of an expansion of the death penalty.”
On criticism of his vote – “That one difference is pretty hair-spltting when you look at my history on the death penalty, nonetheless, people are looking for something to attack me on, so they take that hair-split and they run with it.”
On the campaign – “I want to win the race and hold the office for the Republicans.”
On Jeff Frederick – “Well, first of all, I’m staying out of that contest within the State Central Committee; I want to make that very clear. And, unfortunately, that letter from some members of my caucus sounded to some people like there was universal agreement in the caucus. There is not.”
On my comment about the RPV being divided – “You [J.R.] made a comment that I totally disagree with. This party has been a lot more divided in recent years than it is right now….You implied in your question that this division was in some ways the cause of Jim Gilmore’s defeat. Now, surely you don’t take that seriously?”
For more information on becoming a delegate to the Republican Convention, visit RPV.org. For more information on the Cucccinelli campaign, visit his web site.
We’re hopeful that Mr. Brownlee and Mr. Foster will also join us between now and the convention.
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Opening music “Highway Run” by the Charlie Wheeler Band available through Ariel Publicity.
