Ken Cuccinelli Distancing Himself From National GOP On Shutdown

The Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia wants a quick end to the Government Shutdown.

Ken-Cuccinelli-AG

The government shutdown, now winding its way through its fifth day with no end in sight, is becoming an issue in the Virginia Governor’s race:

Fairfax, Virginia (CNN) - Virginia GOP gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli said Friday that the Affordable Care Act is “the law of the land” and called on members of Congress to pass a short-term spending bill that would bring the ongoing government shutdown to an end.

“This is no way to run a government, especially a super power,” Cuccinelli told reporters after convening a roundtable discussion with area physicians to discuss flaws in the health care law.

Cuccinelli, who trails Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe in the polls, avoided blaming his fellow Republicans in the House for the stalemate in Washington, a shutdown that has affected tens of thousands of Virginia workers and military families.

He pointed instead to President Barack Obama and “ridiculous” Senate Democrats for refusing to negotiate over a spending resolution that would de-fund “Obamacare,” as well as other smaller bills that would open parts of the federal government.

But unlike GOP hardliners in the House, Cuccinelli said Republicans and Democrats should agree to pass a stopgap bill that re-opens the government in the short term “just to keep things running,” as long as it does not increase federal spending levels.

Asked if the shutdown is hurting his campaign, the Republican said it’s “dominating people’s attention” because Virginia’s economic vitality is so closely tied to federal government.

“Yes, it is affecting the campaign,” he said.

Cuccinnelli was also asked if he agreed with the Republican running to succeed him as state Attorney General, Mark Obenshain, who said Thursday that Obamacare is now the law, even if he disagrees with elements of the legislation.

“Mark is correct, it’s the law of the land,” said Cuccinelli, who was the first attorney general in the nation to sue tThe federal government over the law, which was ultimately upheld in the Supreme Court last year. “It doesn’t mean that it’s all done and we are set and over with. They don’t even know how they are going to implement it. We are learning a lot as we go here.”

Given the large number of Federal workers and contractors in Virginia, especially in the voter rich areas of Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads/Tidewater, it’s not entirely surprising that Cuccinelli would be taking this position. Of the 800,000 Federal Government employees on furlough because of the shutdown, a large segment live right here in the Old Dominion and there’s really no political benefit to Cuccinelli in adopting the rhetoric of Ted Cruz and the other Members of Congress and the Senate who have been pushing for a hard line for the past three weeks or so, or even to back the plays being called by a House GOP Leadership that seems desperate to find a way out of this mess without causing too many problems with the hard line wing of the GOP Caucus. This is especially true given the fact that Cuccinelli is trailing in the polls and can barely afford to alienate voters over something like this when it seems clear, for the moment at least, that the GOP is going to end up on the losing end of this confrontation.

One problem for Cuccinelli, though, is that he’ll be appearing at a non-campaign event tonight in Richmond alongside none other than Ted Cruz. As The Washington Post notes, this does tend to put Cuccinelli in a tough spot:

Mr. Cuccinelli has spent the campaignwalking a fine line between the rock of Virginia’s purple-state moderation and the hard place of his unstinting conservatism. As the first attorney general in the country to file suit challenging Obamacare, he is a hero to the tea party. But to align himself with like-minded Republicans, who have pushed Congress to its current impasse, risks infuriating everyday Virginians, to say nothing of the state’s 170,000 federal civilian employees, who dislike the government shutdown much more than the health-care law.

That’s why Mr. Cruz, the architect of the current showdown in Congress and the tea party’s champion, is a problem for Mr. Cuccinelli. A bear hug will alienate swing voters. The cold shoulder will incite tea partyers. Perhaps Mr. Cuccinelli will try for a warm but brief handshake.

Either way, one can assume that the McAuliffe campaign will attempt make some effort to tie Cuccinelli to Cruz and the shutdown, which is why Cuccinelli is clearly attempting to undercut that by making the statements he did about a shutdown. Whether it will work or not is hard to say, but as the Post notes Cuccinelli and the Republican Party of Virginia’s statewide ticket is already closely identified in the minds of voters with the Tea Party movement. How credible an effort to create distance at this late date is going to look is an unknown, but if the shutdown lasts for awhile and starts to inflict real pain on Virginia voters and the GOP continues to get the majority of the blame for it, then it’s likely that they’ll be taking their frustrations out on the only Republicans on the ballot this year.

FILED UNDER: 2013 Election, Congress, Deficit and Debt, US Politics, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. PJ says:

    I expect that the next poll will show gains for Christopher Sarvis.

  2. Woody says:

    I do understand that the Post in particular has the attention span and memory of an addled mayfly, but it’s juuuuust a bit late for Mr Cuccinelli to claim moderate bona fides.

    Perhaps his running mate can bring moderate cred.

  3. Ron Beasley says:

    I would imagine Cuccinelli is desperately trying to figure out how he can avoid a photo op with Mr Cruz.

  4. superdestroyer says:

    Who cares what Cuccinelli believes about the shut down since there is almost no chance that he will be elected governor.

    In the competition between Slimey and Scary, Slimey is going to win.

  5. Gustopher says:

    A bear hug will alienate swing voters. The cold shoulder will incite tea partyers. Perhaps Mr. Cuccinelli will try for a warm but brief handshake.

    Perhaps they can move the event to an apiary and each wear bee keepers outfits. Or they can make it a costume party.

  6. Todd says:

    It must take some real talent to get to the point where a guy like Ken Cuccinelli considers you “too extreme” to be seen with.

  7. al-Ameda says:

    LOL
    Suddenly Ken Cuccinelli realizes that there a lot of federal workers in Virginia.

  8. superdestroyer says:

    @al-Ameda:

    I doubt if the Republicans ever count of receiving the votes of many civil servants unless those civil servant are very devout social conservatives. One of the reasons that the Republicans have slipped in Virginia is the number of government workers, government contractors, and 8a contractors keeps growing that those groups are not going to vote for the more conservative party.

  9. al-Ameda says:

    @superdestroyer:

    I doubt if the Republicans ever count of receiving the votes of many civil servants unless those civil servant are very devout social conservatives.

    Interesting that they would write off an entire class of middle class working voters.

  10. Paul Hooson says:

    Voters are just asking for trouble if they’re stupid enough to elect this guy. He’s a political extremist with wacky views on social issues. He’s a joke.

  11. al-Ameda says:

    @Paul Hooson:

    Voters are just asking for trouble if they’re stupid enough to elect this guy. He’s a political extremist with wacky views on social issues. He’s a joke.

    Yes, voters are stupid enough to elect Cuccinelli. How else does one explain the Republican Delegation in the House of Representatives?

  12. superdestroyer says:

    @al-Ameda:

    They are generally upper midde class but are much less white than the equivalent private sector voter and government workers are going to support bigger government, high taxes, and more regulation. Public sector workers are employed because of an growing, expanding government, and the high cost of taxes will just be offset with higher pay versus the private sector.