The biggest surprise in Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s announcement to take on Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling for the GOP nomination for Governor in 2013 is that anyone was surprised.
Four years ago, Bolling deferred to Bob McDonnell in running for Governor “for the good of the Party,” so they say. Whether it had more to do with philanthropic selflessness or an assessment of who would have won said battle is a matter for debate.
But there was a third part of the ticket to be decided after Bob and Bill shook hands, and the race for AG had a little Cuccinelli-Brownlee-Foster squabble to decide.
I don’t remember Bolling embracing Cuccinelli in that fight. Sure, after Cuccinelli romped to a slaughter-sized victory, arms were wide open, if not enthusiastically. But it was clear that Cuccinelli was marching to the beat of his own drum. Where McDonnell and Bolling stuck more moderate tones at times, Cuccinelli took on fights against Obamacare, global warming and other issues that just get Democrats fuming mad.
Now, a lot of good people think Bolling’s gracious step back in 2009 should have made the 2013 race his and his alone. But the problem is that almost no one thinks Bolling stepped back then because he was going to trounce McDonnell. In the eyes of some, Bolling’s move was a sign of weakness. If you aren’t in politics to win, so they say, you shouldn’t be in at all.
I usually hate primaries. They rarely wind up well, and too many take them too personally. In the mid-1990’s, when most of the country got to rock and roll with a Republican majority, we had drama of Ollie North and John Warner or George Allen and Pat McSweeney. Virginia caught the Republican wave a few years later than the rest of the country with a sweep in 1997 and a General Assembly takeover in 1999, once we stopped aiming at ourselves. Then 2001 came along and Earley-Hager’s spat launched the career Mark Warner, and we’re still dealing with that high-polling lightweight.
I’m not going to like this primary either. Bolling has hit every correct chord as LG. McDonnell couldn’t have wished for a better teammate.
But in Republican spheres, AG is the gubernatorial launching pad. Our last four nominees have been AG. LG has been where Democrats groom their governors.
With an Obama White House as a legal target, Cuccinelli has had a field day as AG. He’s a national figure. He’s a panelist for a nationally televised Presidential Debate this weekend. He could run for any office he wants to and likely win.
But since his first day in the Virginia Senate, Cuccinelli has, rightly or wrongly, been tracking his own course. He isn’t, and has never been, an “establishment” candidate. He worries some Republicans. He scares the heck out of most Democrats.
He is brilliant.
Cuccinelli takes on fights where the polling will be solidly in his corner. Attacking him for his crusades just makes the attackers look bad. Cuccinelli is a populist, and I’ve never seen him take up an unpopular battle. Voters side with him time after time.
And if early polling is any indication, he’s counting on them doing so again.
Cuccinelli is reportedly keeping his AG job during the campaign. Good. He has to. Bolling will have a huge spotlight on him with a 20-20 Senate to cast many high-profile tiebreaker votes and make himself a hero to the core Republican base. That gift will keep giving.
Cuccinelli can’t give up his perch as the leading legal wrangler with Obama policies. He needs that platform to keep performing for him.
The sad part is it’s 2011 and we’re already kicking off the 2013 campaign.
But surprising? Not in the least.
