My occasional writing partner Paul Goldman has a piece up over at the Channel 6 website in which he excoriates New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for what Paul contends is a shoddy, and possibly illegal, anti-Cuccinelli ad:
…I recognize Bloomberg doesn’t much care for our laws.
Sorry Mr. Mayor, down in Virginia, we kinda think our laws are sorta equal to yours in that regard.
Virginia Code Section $24.2–957.2 is intended to cover the kind of political advertisement being run by Mr. Bloomberg’s folks.
As I read the plain meaning of subclause (2) and (7) of this Code Section, the Bloomberg ad is in violation of our laws.
This statute requires a specific type of disclaimer in such attack ads be delivered by the individual with the specific title named in the law and that a photograph of said person or said person himself/herself be visible on the screen at the same time. The Bloomie ad doesn’t meet those legal requirements. So either the law doesn’t apply, or the AD violates the law. Bottom line: Whether illegal or not, it violates the spirit of Virginia law, it is unfair as even the biggest Virginia newspaper most opposed to Cuccinelli concedes and it cannot possibly serve to be useful to taint the election process.
Mr. Mayor, tell your people to take it down, and put up a fair ad, properly documented, and in keeping at least with what we want here in Virginia.
I don’t look for that to happen any time soon. But it does show something rather interesting that’s going on in the campaign’s waning days.
Traditionally, both gubernatorial nominees make a run for the middle — that’s where the most votes are. But in this contest, the major party nominees have to their respective wings, with McAuliffe, in particular, tossing aside the playbook that elected Mark Warner in 2001 and Tim Kaine in 2005. By dismissing the NRA in Thursday night’s debate, McAuliffe did what no other Democrat — including his ticketmates — has ever done before: tell Virginia’s numerous and organized gun owners to pound sand.
Only a candidate who believes he has the race absolutely, positively, in the bag would do such a thing. And even then, they would think twice. But McAuliffe may believe, and his internal polls may show, that what the Second Amendment crowd believes is beside the point. He’s got an unassailable fortress in Northern Virginia, and that gives him all the protection he needs to campaign like no other Virginia Democrat has done before.
And that could be the real story of this election. Has Northern Virginia reached a tipping point in statewide elections where it not only votes Democratic, but brings enough Democratic votes to the polls to make the rest of Virginia’s vote irrelevant?
