It's Almost As Though The Georgia GOP Has Figured Out A Way To Elect Michelle Nunn To The Senate

Sam Nunn (L), Michelle Nunn (R)

Virginia Republicans who weren't paying close enough attention are still wondering how their party got saddled with such radical extremists at the top of their ticket. Neo-fascist Ken Cuccinelli and certifiably insane sociopath E.W. Jackson are not going to attract any of the independent swing voters Virginia Republicans need to win statewide, not even against a Democratic candidate as patently unattractive as Terry McAuliffe. But there was no primary. The Cooch manipulated the system so that a nominating convention, dominated by extremists and radical ideologues, would determine who the candidates were. That was a disaster for Virginia Republicans-- and some Georgia Republicans would like to follow suit.

With Michelle Nunn looking more likely to run for the open Senate seat-- and looking like she could beat any of the extremists, especially Handel or Broun, the far right of the Georgia GOP is doing exactly what Nunn's advisors were hoping they'd do: follow Virginia down the yellow brick road... to electoral oblivion. The far right activists are petrified that Rove and other "pragmatists" are trying to manipulate the process in favor of someone who could win a general election.

Georgia Republicans are weighing an election shift that could reshape the state’s political landscape by giving grass-roots activists tremendous new clout in picking the party’s nominee.

State GOP leaders plan to vote Saturday whether to take a first step away from the summer primaries that elect the party’s nominee and toward allowing a convention of party insiders to choose the candidate for statewide and national office. Consider it an audition for a more sweeping electoral change.

Not surprisingly, some elected Republican leaders and assorted power brokers are wary of an overhaul they fear could disenfranchise the roughly 700,000 people who vote in party primaries and cede power to a smaller group of activists.

But supporters say the change is needed to offset what the resolution calls the “power of Big Money and Big Media” and give more say to the activists who feel they’ve been ignored during the GOP’s ascendancy.

“This is an effort to try to remove money from the nominating contest, and some who aren’t in support of it are the ones who enjoy the privilege to dictate who will be our nominee through their money,” said Dale Jackson, a LaGrange businessman who chairs the state GOP’s 3rd district.

“Right now there are a very few people who are participating, and those are the people who can afford to spend hundreds if not millions of dollars to influence who wins the nomination.”

The pitch comes at a pivotal moment for Georgia Republicans. Gov. Nathan Deal and other leaders routinely acknowledge the party needs to broaden its message or risk facing a resurgent Democratic Party emboldened by a growing minority population. And the heated competition for an open U.S. Senate spot triggered a race to the right that some fear could give Democrats a better chance at seizing the seat.

...The party’s establishment wing hasn’t been keen on the idea, and some point to Virginia as a prime example why. Virginia’s Republicans selected E.W. Jackson, a little-known minister and attorney, as their candidate for lieutenant governor despite controversial comments about gays and abortion that could haunt him during the general election.

“I’m not sure less democracy is the solution, at this point in our history, to whatever ills or frustrations are out there,” House Speaker David Ralston said this week. “I can’t support that and I don’t support it. I re-read the resolution this morning and I’m not sure what the rationale for it might be.”

Brant Frost V, the Coweta County GOP chairman who brought the resolution, said his reasoning is simple: The grass-roots base that powered the GOP for generations during its political exile has been “discriminated against” as the party came to power in the past decade. Enough members of the party’s 16-member resolution committee agreed, setting up Saturday’s vote.

“We’ve seen the cost of a primary spiral out of control, and that means you’re excluding candidates who can’t raise the money,” said the 23-year-old, whose family has been influential in GOP politics. “Politics is like a stew. You’ve got to have money, support, the ground game. But we’ve so spiced it up with the money angle that we’ve completely deadened the effect of all the other essential ingredients.”

...Top Republicans, though, are wary of any changes. Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, said the voters in his North Georgia district spend their nights going to Little League games and weekends hunting and fishing-- not at party meetings and insider conventions.

“Are we going to tell them that if they don’t have time to be an activist then we are going to disenfranchise them?” he asked. “I’m not going there.”

He may have no choice-- and that would open the door further to a crackpot like Paul "Lies Straight From the Pit of Hell" Broun, a John Bircher, Karen Handel or Phil Gingrey, all fringe candidates Nunn could beat statewide. Although there's another Democrat running as well, Branko Radulovacki-- "call me Dr. Rad"-- an Atlanta psychiatrist, Republicans are blasting away at Nunn.

“National Republicans are so terrified of the possibility of a Michelle Nunn candidacy that they are already misleading the public about her and her record,” said Matt Canter... at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “The divisive Tea Party primary and the demographic changes in Georgia, make this seat one of the best pick up opportunities for Democrats this cycle,” he said.

This is what the Georgia neo-fascist/KKK/Bircher grassroots wants to send to the U.S. Senate:

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Confidential to anti-educationalist "reformers": If you're pretending not to be a right-wing stooge, be careful about hobnobbing with other RWS's

This video featuring 11-year-old Marcel Neergaard and his parents helped set in motion the revocation of StudentsFirst's "Educator of the Year" award to Tennessee's energetically homophobic State Rep. John Ragan.

by Ken

There's a certain entertainment value in the spectacle of right-wing stooges pretending not to be right-wing stooges. Some of them are better at it than others, naturally. Like term-limited outgoing VA Gov. Bob McDonnell, who until recently has had more success than he deserved at parlaying his stylish coiffeur and polished demeanor into an image of noncraziness -- as compared with, say, the state's attorney general, "Cuckoo Ken" Cuccinelli, who has made his political bones boasting of rather than trying to hide his insane right-wing extremism, to the frequent embarrassment of the governor. (Ironically, even as Governor Bob's future political aspirations are being burdened with burgeoning scandals, the Cuckoo Man, running to succeed him, is having to put on a show of non-craziness to broaden his electoral appeal. It's kind of like a lumbering giant brown bear trying to dance in a tutu and ballet slippers. But against a wisp of a candidate like useless slut-Dem Terry McAuliffe, it may be good enough.)

Former DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, a heroine of the educational-deconstruction racket that has somehow gotten itself called an educational "reform" movement, is no stranger to DWT. Back in October, for example, Howie wrote, in "GOP Education Policy: No More Pencils, No More Books, No More Teachers' Dirty Looks":

Eliminating public education and selling it off to their for-profit, corporate contributors is the entire basis -- implicit and explicit -- of conservative education policy. It's no coincidence that corporate shill Michelle Rhee is working for the most reactionary right-wing governors in America like Scott Walker, Tom Corbett, John Kasich and Rick Snyder and being financed by anti-public education fanatics like the fascist-oriented DeVos and Koch families. Their long-term goal, according to a People for the American Way report "is to make all schooling an activity supplied by private sources: for-profit management companies, religious organizations and home schools. The movement believes that targeted voucher plans, such as those in Florida, Milwaukee and Cleveland, give them a foot in the door en route to achieving this goal. While many of those who want to privatize education choose their words very carefully, others are more candid about their goals. The Heartland Institute’s Joseph Bast has urged others who share his group’s extreme agenda to be patient. 'The complete privatization of schooling might be desirable, but this objective is politically impossible for the time being. Vouchers are a type of reform that is possible now, and would put us on the path to further privatization.'"

What's really insidious this anti-educational hoax is that it has reached partway across the political spectrum to ensnare a portion of the center to slightly-left-of-center that traditionally thinks of itself as vaguely progressive -- especially in the business community, people who have somehow taken it into their heads that they have discovered the secret of education, when you'd be hard put to find any people who have less experience of or insight into what actually happens in the process of teaching and learning.

Basically their idea is to scapegoat teachers and advocate systems, relying heavily on standardized testing, that contradict almost everything that contributes to actual learning but can be expected to produce a new supply of little corporate tools. (I've written about this a number of times -- for example, "When we put the plutocrats in charge, we get their crackpot ideas on matters like education," September 2011, and "In NYS's education war, Diane Ravitch asks: 'Will we ever break free of our national addiction to data?'," February 2012.) The thing to remember here is that you not just crackpot ideology but a massive industry into which huge sums of money are poured, making it an obvious target for ideologues besotted with greed.

Rhee now runs an outfit ironically called StudentsFirst, yet another of those masterpieces of right-wing nomenclature which name a thing the exact opposite of what it actually is. And in that capacity, she just got caught in an embarrassing booboo: bestowing an organizational gold medal on a creepy-crawly Tennessee pol of amoeba-like primitiveness, State Rep. John Ragan, House sponsor of a creepy-crawly piece of legislation, introduced in both 2012 and 2013, which would have prevented teachers from talking about any aspect of sexuality unrelated to reproduction. It has been popularly known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, and it was a cause of consternation among segments of the population who felt themselves targeted, like the LGBT community. Happily, the bill died in both sessions, but the ever-hopeful Representative Ragan plans to introduce it again, on the "third time's a charm" theory.

Oh yes, the awkward StudentsFirst connection: In 2012 the group bestowed an "Educator of the Year" award on none other than John Ragan. HuffPost's Cavan Sieczkowski tells the story of what followed (links onsite):

Gay 11-Year-Old's Petition Against
Homophobic Politician Succeeds

The Huffington Post  |  By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 06/05/2013 3:34 pm EDT  |  Updated: 06/05/2013 7:08 pm EDT

An openly gay 11-year-old boy's campaign against a homophobic Tennessee representative has succeeded.

Marcel Neergaard is a Tennessee boy who was home-schooled for sixth grade and even contemplated suicide due to severe anti-gay bullying, bullying that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates say could have been fostered in public schools throughout the state if the "Don't Say Gay" bill had actually passed.

The bill, rejected in 2012, aimed at banning talk of sexual activity other than "related to natural human reproduction." It was resurrected by Representative John Ragan (R-Tenn.) this year as the "Classroom Protection Act." It included an amendment requiring school officials to inform parents if they have reason to believe the child might be gay. The bill also required schools to provide counseling for such students so as to prevent “behavior injurious to the physical or mental health and well-being of the student or another person.”

The proposed "Classroom" bill failed in March, but prior to that, back in 2012, Ragan scored a victory when he was honored with the educational "Reformer of the Year" award by StudentsFirst, a group dedicated to defending the interests of children in public schools and pushing for transformative reform.

Neergaard didn't think Ragan deserved such a title. So he started a petition on MoveOn.org to get the accolade revoked. And it worked. After getting more than 50,000 signatures, the bullied youngster's campaign caught the attention of StudentsFirst and today the group reneged Ragan's award.

"I'm very proud," Neergaard told The Huffington Post in an email Wednesday. "I want to make sure to thank all the people who signed my petition, because without them, it would not have been possible."

"I had my petition up for less than a week, and it actually worked," he added. "When I pressed the victory button [on MoveOn.org] I actually got my brother to put his finger over my finger, because he really wanted to push it."

StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee responded to the group's decision to revoke Ragan's award on Wednesday. As a mother of two daughters, she wrote, she realizes that a safe and nurturing school environment is a top priority. Not only did she rescind the recognition, but Rhee also denounced Ragan's bill as "ill-conceived and harmful legislation" that would have "cultivated a culture of bullying."

Tim Melton, Vice President for Legislative Affairs at StudentsFirst, made it clear that the group has never supported the "Classroom Protection Act."

"When it comes to this kind of legislation, StudentsFirst is clear that we stand strongly opposed to policies, statements, or actions that could create an unsafe or unwelcoming environment for any student in any school," he said in a press release sent to HuffPost. "In Tennessee and elsewhere, we remain committed to that and to working with parents, teachers, and administrators to ensure every student has a great teacher, parents have access to great schools, and that policymakers are making effective use of public dollars."

The New Civil Rights Movement's David Badash sought comment from StudentsFirst, asking "if StudentsFirst is asking Rep. Ragan to return the $6500 StudentsFirst donated to his campaign, and if StudentsFirst will make a public pledge to not donate to any lawmaker who opposes LGBT civil rights." He got this response from a spokesperson:

We appreciate you reaching out. The short answer to your questions is no and here's why, in Michelle's own words from the blog post:

StudentsFirst is a single-issue organization. That means we focus on improving education for kids, and nothing else. We're proud to have worked with legislators on both sides of the political spectrum and to have found common ground supporting meaningful reform policies. This oftentimes means we build relationships with and support legislators whom we fundamentally disagree with on other issues -- even sometimes on issues within the education policy arena.

As StudentsFirst continues our fight to ensure every child is given the best possible opportunity to succeed in school, we know it is also important to help educate lawmakers and our members about the importance of promoting safe school environments for our students.

Sounds swell, unless you look behind the pretty words to StudentsFirst's actual "single issue": to turn the educational system into a cash cow for entrepreneurs promoting the indoctrination of robotic capitalist toolettes. It's hardly surprising that they find themselves making kissy-face with the likes of Representative Ragan.

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Virginia Has A Sociopath Pushing Its Reactionary Agenda-- Meet Bishop E.W. Jackson

Saturday Ken Cuccinelli got a Lt. Gov. nominee just as extreme and out of step with Virginia as he is. Bishop Earl Walker "E.W." Jackson is, basically, a slick-talking religionist crackpot and well-practiced far right ideologue. He gained a national audience on the right-wing fringes after year old video above in which he rages against marriage equality, released as he launched his failed campaign for the Republican Senate nomination.

Obviously deranged and warped by too many hours of conspiratorial Hate Talk radio, he accuses Planned Parenthood of “killing unborn black babies by the tens of millions” and being "far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.” He insists Planned Parenthood, the Democratic Party, and civil rights leaders have been “partners in genocide.” The man needs a nice long rest, but instead he'll be taking his minstrel show oon the road for Ken Cuccinelli and the virulently racist Virginia Republican Party. He seems a little too obsessed with homosexuality for a straight man. When someone carries on about gays the way he does, it always leads to some kind embarrassing revelations in the not too distant future. Does Earl expect to keep his homosexual obsessions private?

The Democrat Party has equated homosexuality with being Black, which is another outrageous lie. They can keep their homosexuality private. You and I cannot hide being Black. I need not account to you the painful history of slavery, Jim Crow. lynchings and sterilizations all because of skin color. Anyone who dares equate the so-called gay rights movement to the history of Black Americans is exploiting the Black community. They say opposition to same sex marriage is the same as opposition to interracial marriage. That is an insult to human intelligence; it is a lie. No Christian should support this. Yet the Democrat Party has now declared same sex marriage an official part of its platform. And Black Christians remain in that party? The Civil Rights Establishment has embraced the lies and betrayed the Black community and God All Mighty for 30 pieces of silver from the Democrat Party.

Damn! He sounded just like the bigoted priests in Tbilisi Friday who whipped a mob of primitives up into a bloodthirsty frenzy or anti-gay rioting that sent 30 people to the hospital. He dresses well and speaks well, but, wow, is he ever a primitive hustler! "God will take care of us," he promises Blacks, if they just abandon the progressive policies that have fought slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings and sterilization and join up with the conservative perpetrators of these policies he has long ago sold his soul to. He won the nomination because he was the most radical and extreme and hate-fueled at the convention. He's likely to even further turn independents and mainstream voters away from the Republicans. As the Richmond Times-Dispatch put it, Cuccinelli "will head a ticket that cements the tea party’s takeover of the state GOP apparatus."

Jackson became the GOP’s first African American nominee for statewide office since 1988, overcoming six other hopefuls for the No. 2 spot on the ticket after four dramatic ballots lasting nearly 10 hours. He bested several candidates with deep ties to the state party, more money and long records in elected office, appealing to the more than 8,000 delegates in the Richmond Coliseum as a grass-roots crusader for the Constitution and social conservatism.

Before the balloting, the crowd erupted as Jackson vowed to “get the government off our backs, off our property, out of our families, out of our health care and out of our way.”

Jackson never trailed, leading after the first ballot and holding on despite sustained attacks and determined horse-trading by his opponents. He was joined on stage by Cuccinelli and Obenshain after 10 p.m., projecting an image of Republican unity at the conclusion of a fractious convention.

Right-wing Hampton blogger Tom Gear wrote an open letter to Virginia Republicans last week about what the Tea Party was about the shove down their throats.

Dear Republican Friends,

As many people know when they run for public office, the public has a right to full disclosure of their background. Everytime I ran I faced every question honestly and to the point. It seems that E W Jackson Sr. feels these rules do not apply to his candidacy. While I understand tough times, believe me I do, I also know that only thing that matters is EW Jackson Sr. is running to represent our Party as its nominee for Lt. Governor.

I asked EW Jackson, Sr to answer the following questions for the public record on May 5, 2013 and at the time of writing this email he has not responded.

• We have, without question, been through some of the toughest economic times our Country has ever experienced. That being said, it has been brought to my attention that you have had multiple bankruptcies, garnishments and tax liens. Is this true or just vicious negative campaigning?

It seems others feel the same as I do and a group called VA TRUTH documented the list of bankrupcties and they can be seen by clicking here.  As I said above there can be a good reason for asking for relief of debt but not disclosing this to the voters made me wonder what else is out there on EW Jackson. A simple online investigation showed the following;

1) On May 8, 2012, EW Jackson Sr. was issued a warrant in debt for not paying his personal property taxes.

2) On September 9, 2011, EW Jackson Sr. was issued a warrant in debt for a lawsuit involving his church.

3) On September 2, 2008, EW Jackson Sr. was issued a garnishment from a lawsuit involving his church.

4) On April 6, 2007, EW Jackson Sr. was served a unlawful detainer from a lawsuit involving his church.

Gear goes on and on and concludes that Jackson's financial baggage, inability to raise money (presumably from teh white racists who support the Virginia GOP) and his total lack of knowledge of state government will crush his chances to win. As for Jackson's claims about the fight against conservatives like himself for interracial marriage and the current fight against conservatives for marriage equality, Nanci Griffith and Mildred Loving could probably teach the bishop some good lessons on that one.

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Man, these wacko VA Republicrooks should be easy pickings for . . . oh, Terry McAuliffe -- never mind!

Is Cuckoo Ken trying to tank this election?

What spell was cast by businessman Jonnie R. Williams Sr. to induce forgetfulness and truth-shading from Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and the man who would succeed him, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II? What powers of alchemy does Mr. Williams, a major campaign donor, possess that prompted those two officials, the state's most powerful elected Republicans, to flagrantly disregard Virginia's already flimsy disclosure laws?

-- the start of a Washington Post editorial,
"Virginia's deepening scandal"

by Ken

You don't normally look to the WaPo Editorial Board to rise into high-dudgeon mode except when the darlings are rising to defend the endangered status quo. But give them credit for rising to the occasion of the burgeoning scandals regarding Virginia's top Republican officeholders, such as they are. (Links onsite.)

Already, we have seen Mr. McDonnell strain veracity by dodging disclosure of a $15,000 donation from Mr. Williams, in payment of a catering bill, on the grounds that it was a gift to the governor's daughter for her wedding. Facts that have emerged since that claim suggest that the money was a straight-out contribution to the governor, who signed the catering contract.

Then it turned out that Mr. Cuccinelli, the presumptive Republican candidate for governor, somehow suffered a multi-pronged amnesia attack that led him not to report more than $5,000 in contributions from Mr. Williams, owner of a firm that makes dietary supplements. Among other things, the money paid for Mr. Cuccinelli's summer vacation last year; a catered Thanksgiving dinner in 2010 for the attorney general and his family; and a flight to New York.

Now The Post's Rosalind S. Helderman and Jerry Markon report that the FBI is looking into the relationship between Mr. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and Mr. Williams -- specifically, whether Mr. Williams plied Maureen McDonnell with previously undisclosed gifts, presumably in return for the first couple's help in plugging Mr. Williams's company. (She spoke on the firm's behalf at an industry event in Florida and hosted an event at the Executive Mansion in Richmond, at which the governor also spoke, marking the unveiling of its signature product.)

Now, whatever I think of Governor Bob -- and I don't think much of him -- I don't think of him as a dope. But you find yourself wondering, what on God's green earth could these people be thinking of? Do they just take it for granted that voters assume they're crooks, and given them carte blanche for their crookery?

Which brings us to the total wackster, Atty Gen. "Cuckoo Ken" Cuccinelli, the man who would succeed the term-limited Governor Bob.

As for Mr. Cuccinelli, he finds himself in a rapidly thickening ethical morass related to the whistle-blower who first alerted federal and state authorities to the McDonnell-Williams back-scratching. In what appears to be a flagrant conflict of interest, Mr. Cuccinelli -- who has counted on Mr. Williams for gifts and travel and Mr. McDonnell for political support -- gave the green light to embezzlement charges against the whistle-blower, Todd Schneider, former top chef at the Executive Mansion.

Here we have the attorney general of Virginia, who aspires to be governor, prosecuting the chief tormentor of two of his most important patrons. That's not just a failure of common sense on Mr. Cuccinelli's part; it's an ethical lapse.

Under pressure, Mr. Cuccinelli announced Friday afternoon -- when relatively few were likely to notice -- that his office would now recuse itself from the embezzlement case against Mr. Schneider. He used the flimsy excuse that a former employee of the Executive Mansion, who might be a witness in the Schneider case, is now a fundraiser for his gubernatorial campaign -- a fact known to Mr. Cuccinelli for months.

Um, jeepers! So this is AG Cuckoo Ken's philosophy of law enforcement? Using his legal muscle to knee-cap The Enemy? (Well, somebody's gotta keep those goddamn whistleblowers in their place, right?)

The troubling questions about the McDonnell-Cuccinelli-Williams affair are mounting. Did the governor and his wife accept unreported gifts from Mr. Williams in return for political favors? Did Mr. Schneider's role as whistle-blower factor in any way into Mr. Cuccinelli's pursuit of criminal charges against him? How could Mr. Cuccinelli not have remembered that Mr. Williams paid for his family's summer vacation last year? Virginians deserve answers.

You'd figure the Republicans are in for a bloodbath in this gubernatorial election. And then you remember that the Democrats are offering Virginians Terry McAuliffe.

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Sure, what Terry McAuliffe needs to get elected governor of Virginia is better staff than he had in 2009

Pick your poison -- D vs. R

"[S]ome Democrats said privately that both McAuliffe and his team were disillusioned after the [2009] primary loss, making it unsurprising that a different cast would be in place this year."

-- from Ben Pershing's WaPo report, "Building campaigns,
McAuliffe cleans house while Cuccinelli keeps old hands"

by Ken

It doesn't seem to happen as often as it used to -- crackpot right-wing lurkers denouncing us here at DWT for bad-mouthing their slime-sucking heroes while giving a pass to what they view as satanic Democrats. Is it possible that people have actually noticed that there aren't a lot of Dems of whom we're especially enamored?

You'd think, as GOP office-holders and -seekers have been overwhelmingly reduced to life forms that should be confined to cages, there would be an opening for better Dem candidates. Foolish illusion! As we've discovered, almost the exact opposite has happened: The money-worshipping powers-behind-the-Dem-scenes have gleaned the message that all they have to do is throw out candidates who are microscopically better than the pathological specimens occupying the R slot on the ballot.

Maybe this is why I can't resist stories about the upcoming Virginia governor's race. With fake-moderate Gov. Bob "Good Hair" McDonnell term-limited, the GOP nomination has fallen almost by default to one of the more toxic specimens in the political firmament, AG "Cuckoo Ken" Cuccinelli, about as extreme a statewide office-holder as I'm aware of, and a candidate to the right even of his state's extremely conservative party. As we know, passed-over Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who has been showing surprising independence in exercising his tie-breaking power in the deadlocked State Senate, abandoned the idea of running as an independent, even though a lot of people -- himself and myself included -- thought there might be an opening for a non-sociopathic Republican candidate. The problem: money. Bolling just didn't see where the kind of money he would need to mount a serious challenge was going to come from, and that by itself would have been enough to scare off lots of potential donors who would have worried that they were throwing their money down the drain.

Now you'd think that a candidate as loathsome as Cuckoo Ken might present an opportunity for a serious Democratic candidate. Instead the best Virginia Dems have been able to come up with his Mr. Moneybags, Terry McAuliffe. You'll recall that Moneybags Terry already made a run for the governorship last time around, and finished a distant second in a dismal Dem primary field.

What makes the Virginia gubernatorial contest so emblematic for me is that up against a dismal and likely vulnerable GOP candidate, the Dems are prepared to put up . . . well, nobody. And one of the political guidelines I believe in is that you can hardly ever beat somebody, no matter how appalling a somebody, with nobody.

Now you or I might have drawn the lesson from Moneybags Terry's previous shot at the governorship that the campaign never got to the basic issue: that it's virtually impossible to give voters any reason why they should vote for the guy. Naturally, this isn't at all the lesson that our Terry drew. He's not exactly laying all the blame for 2009 on staff, but it doesn't seem entirely coincidental that his 2013 team is almost entirely new.

Building campaigns, McAuliffe cleans house while Cuccinelli keeps old hands

By Ben Pershing, Washington Post

Four years after his failed campaign for Virginia governor, Democrat Terry McAuliffe brings to a second bid the lessons of a disappointing loss and a statewide network of contacts. But hes not bringing his staff.

For the tight race against Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, the Republican nominee, McAuliffe has hired a new cadre of aides and consultants, forgoing nearly all of the team that piloted him to a distant second-place finish in the 2009 Democratic primary. By contrast, Cuccinelli is sticking with the core of operatives who ran his attorney general campaign, and has hired some key players from Gov. Robert F. McDonnell's orbit in Richmond.

Both campaigns -- coterie of pollsters, fundraisers, admakers and turnout specialists -- will be widely watched because Virginia's gubernatorial contest is considered the most competitive proving ground for Republicans and Democrats ahead of next year's midterm races and the 2016 presidential election.

While Cuccinelli's retention of longtime aides is a strategic move to stick with what has worked, McAuliffe's decision to go with a new team is unusual because candidates, even those who have lost, rarely clean house so thoroughly.

"I'd say 100 percent turnover is quite unusual," said Republican operative Kevin Madden, who worked for Mitt Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. "Usually what you have is a core nucleus of folks that have worked for you for a long time."

The benefit, Madden said, is that "campaigns go through some very difficult times . . . and it's usually that familiarity that the former staff have with each other that helps you through those times."

Patrick Hallahan, a longtime McAuliffe confidante, is the lone aide from the last race who is back for the second round, now as a senior adviser. But former campaign manager Mike Henry is now chief of staff to Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D). Top adviser Mo Elleithee and pollster Pete Brodnitz are working with other clients. From the press shop, Delacey Skinner has moved on to a consulting business, and Elisabeth Smith is an adviser to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).

Although circumstances differ with each aide, some Democrats said privately that both McAuliffe and his team were disillusioned after the primary loss, making it unsurprising that a different cast would be in place this year.

Jessica Taylor, who analyzes gubernatorial contests for the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, said a clean slate made sense given McAuliffe's poor performance in 2009.

"What Democrats in the state say [McAuliffe] has to do is run a different campaign, a more disciplined campaign . . . ," Taylor said. "Especially four years later, he probably thought it was time to bring in some new blood." . . .

I suppose it's too much to hope that Moneybags Terry might grasp that the fundamental problem with any political campaign he may wage is the candidate. The result is a dismal choice for Virginia voters this November.

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