General News Virginia governor’s race...looking good!

If I were a voter in Virginia, I would be absolutely disgusted with my choices for governor. Ken Cuccinelli is a radical and absolutist Tea Party member who should be in a mental institution. On the other hand, Terry McAuliffe is the epitome of a phony, corrupt politician.

That said, McAuliffe is a slightly less shitty candidate than Cuccinelli only because the latter is so extreme.

Neither compare to the governor they want to replace, even with McDonnell doing some less than smart (albeit legal) things.

 

As a Marylander, who is legally married to my same-sex spouse, I would love to be able to cross the state line into Virginia and still be recognized. It's kind of scary to think that if a same sex married couple (who plans to eventually adopt children) decides to move to another state for any reason (i.e. a job), that they would no longer be considered a "family" in the eyes of the states laws.

 

We'd just be replacing one phony corrupt politician (Bob McDonnell) with another (Terry McAuliffe), the difference being is that Terry is openly pro-gay marriage and staunchly in favor of LGBT equality. It's a bit bizarre to watch a debate for the Virginia Governor's race and have one of the candidates be pro-gay marriage - I honestly never thought I'd see the day.

...but yeah. While Terry isn't a perfect candidate, he's better than what we have currently, and insanely better than the alternative. Having the Cooch as Governor would be horrific, but even if he won the good news is that you can't run for Governor in back to back races - you get term limited out.

Viewed in that light Terry is basically just a stepping stone toward someone who will be better. (And hopefully that stepping stone takes us further and further away from the Cuccinelli types.)

 

McAuliffe will win by 12+ points, and I'm pretty happy about that. Cuccinelli is a nut job, and that's a nice way of putting it.

 

The coochie is going down hard, and Bob McDonnell might be indicted for his gift scandal. And yet this past January, the Wall Street Journal was reporting that there was nothing anybody could do to stop Ken Cuccinelli in his takeover of the governor's mansion.

The good thing about this is that the more Democratic governors we elect, the lesser chance there is of abortion being restricted anymore in a lot of states. Virginia tried to pass a bill to force a woman to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound in order to have an abortion, and pro-life groups are up in arms over the fact that now that Virginia is about to have a Democratic governor, they're not going to be able to destroy a woman's right to choose any more.

What's even better news is that the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, E.W. Jackson, ultra-far-right Black pastor who says that all Democrats are racists, anyone who's not Christian is practicing "some sort of false religion," Obama is the first gay President, Planned Parenthood is run by the KKK, and said that all gay men are pedophiles.

 

Eh, what McDonnell did wasn't the smartest thing to do as I said before, but overall he has been a good governor for Virginia. His popularity was very high before the "scandal" and then it dipped, and now it's starting to come back up again, particularly with independents. http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/bob-mcdonnell-virginia-governor-survivor-98104.html

He would be a very strong presidential candidate if not for his own stupidity.

 

Maryland's a pretty solid blue state, and thus doesn't matter.* Virginia's a relatively rural, somewhat conservative-leaning swing state, so people are looking at this race as a sort of precursor to the midterms. But yeah, swing states tend to have a bit more drama, probably because of the constantly shifting policies.

* No offense, of course. It's just in the grand scheme of things, we know what to expect from MD so we don't have to pay attention to it.

 

That's why you don't hear about California politics that much. It's been drama-free, because ever since the Terminator left office, the GOP has been almost decimated in the Golden State. Democrats hold every statewide office, and a supermajority in the legislature. Now that Republicans have almost no power in California, the state has a balanced budget, and drama-free politics.

 

I thought the Lieutenant Gov was running. I remember seeing him on CNN when Maryland legalized gay marriage, and he absolutely could/would not say the word "sex."

"Our goal is to provide legal protections for same-se-gender couples."