The 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.
