This [1] may actually be a presidential debate worth watching:
[Virginia Attorney General Ken] Cuccinelli, with the Republican attorneys general of Florida and Oklahoma, will be a panelist for a Fox News-sponsored forum among GOP presidential hopefuls on Dec. 3 in New York City.
It’s a debate about federalism, the concerns of states and, yes, that means Obamacare will likely be at the heart of the discussion.
Cuccinelli said the format will provide a better opportunity than in typical debate formats to test candidates’ knowledge of the issues and their positions because it will allow follow-up questions by people with greater expertise than media representatives.
That’s setting the bar rather low — though, truth be told, I’ve had experiences with attorneys general in the past that made me wonder whether they could find their backsides with both hands.
Nevertheless, this cross-examination ought to be very illuminating, particularly considering that Cuccinelli has yet to endorse anyone in the presidential sweepstakes. But from an interview Scott Lee conducted with him a few weeks ago on “The Score” radio show, we do have a sense of what he’s looking for in a candidate [2]:
We shouldn’t be looking for a “nice guy.” Instead, Cuccinelli suggested,” we should look for someone who is an intellectual conservative,” whose approach to a problem isn’t “what would a conservative do – because that means they aren’t really a conservative. But what is the limited government answer to the problem. And should we be doing anything, period? I want to see someone who has a track record of thinking that way. ”
The candidate who checks off those few boxes will likely get Cuccinelli’s support.