The McAuliffe campaign has Democrats unsettled, uncomfortable and a bit worried:
What ought to scare McAuliffe supporters is this: One campaign is trying to figure out how to be liked (Cuccinelli’s), and the other campaign isn’t trying or doesn’t know how (McAuliffe’s). Harry Wilson, a political scientist at Roanoke College, put it very well to the Times: “This may be the first time we don’t like our governor the day after the election.” But the question is: Which candidate is at least trying to be liked? But this story raises a larger question. What’s going on with the McAuliffe campaign? Is its strategy really just to sit back and then carpet-bomb Cuccinelli as out of touch and hope he can scrape by? Is that any way to win? Yes, it is. But is that any way to govern if you do actually win? No. Many Virginia Democrats are grumbling about the way McAuliffe is running this race (or the fact that Terry is their standard-bearer). What’s amazing is how much fear there is in the Virginia Democratic Party about challenging McAuliffe publicly on this. Of course, this isn’t fear of Terry as much as it is fear of the Clintons.
This Democratic angst is hardly new. And, to its credit, the McAuliffe campaign fired back at NBC for its characterization of Terry as a bad campaigner:
“Terry has spent the last three months making front page news across Virginia by focusing on a positive message about making the Commonwealth better for business,” spokesman Josh Schwerin says in an email to First Read. “Ken Cuccinelli has hidden from the public and been forced on defense over extreme statements on women’s health, opposition to Social Security and an ongoing ethics scandals that have dominated the campaign since January.”
Again, credit them for a quick response. As for the content of that response…it’s laughable. It is Terry McAuliffe who has spent the last few weeks on the ropes absorbing body blows from the RPV, RNC and Cuccinelli campaigns. The early TV ad from the Cuccinelli campaign? Paul Goldman calls it a “sure winner.” Even the New York Times is piling on, wondering if McAuliffe’s central campaign prop — his former electric car company, GreenTech, might not “backfire’ on him. The most intriguing quote in the story, though, comes from Democratic operative Mo Elleithee, who worked for McAuliffe’s embarrassing 2009 gubernatorial campaign:
“I think the more the debate is about Terry’s record, the better the opportunity is for him. He just has to seize it.”
By all means, let’s debate McAuliffe’s record. Let’s hope he seizes it by the neck and refuses to let go. We could begin, say, with his visionary use of the Lincoln Bedroom as a time share for big donors. We could even let Democrat Brian Moran handle the introduction:
“Former Virginia Del. Brian Moran’s campaign slammed fellow Democratic governor hopeful Terry McAuliffe on Thursday, deriding him as ‘the booking agent of the Lincoln Bedroom.’ Responding to a mailer sent out by McAuliffe’s campaign, Moran campaign manager Andrew Roos said in a statement that ‘the last place we would go for a public service lesson is a Wall Street insider.’ ‘For decades, Mr. McAuliffe traded access for money, ensuring that big companies – not people – were in control, all the while pocketing millions through his proximity to power,’ Roos said. ‘Brian Moran will take no lectures on ethics from the booking agent of the Lincoln Bedroom and the architect of the Business Leadership Forum.'”
Yes, let’s start there and see where it goes…
