Terry McAuliffe took a few partisan shots for not attending the annual Shad Planking yesterday. But leave it to Democratic operative Mudcat Saunders [1] to offer the quote that hurts McAuliffe the most:
David “Mudcat” Saunders, a veteran Democratic political strategist who has attended many Shad Plankings but not this year’s, gave a scathing review of the entree. But in the next breath, he expressed surprise that someone running for governor would bow out. “Shad tastes like a wet dog smells,” he said. “Oh, they’re awful. They’re bony. It’s awful. But McAuliffe’s not going?”
“It’s a cultural event for southeast Virginia, is what it is,” he said. “If it’s going through the crowd that the [darn] Democrats didn’t come because they can’t get rural votes, what’s gonna happen then? They ain’t gonna get rural votes.”
That’s going to leave a mark.