# McAuliffe Virginia's new Governor **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 6, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216 "2013-11-06T04:06:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/21 "2013-11-06T16:11:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > So far I think I’m five-for-five with “no.” I’m going to let it ride. Yeah, this. I learned my lesson when the apparent ‘peak wingnut’ of the 2008 election campaign didn’t turn out to be the peak after all. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/22 "2013-11-06T16:17:41Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This is the first time since 1977 that Virginia has elected a governor from the same party as the president. Actually, it’s the first time since 1973. [In 1977, Virginians elected John Dalton, a Republican, as governor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Virginia), while Carter, a Dem, was President. (And no, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you Dalton was the governor elected in 1977 without looking it up, but I did remember that Chuck Robb broke a run of GOP governors when he won in 1981.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/23 "2013-11-06T16:20:52Z")
To me, the big takeaway is that despite the Dem wins in the statewide elections, the Dems still got hammered in the legislative elections. All 100 members of the House of Delegates were up for election, and it looks like the GOP took a 67-33 win. For a state that’s clearly gone purple in the marquee races, it’s still pretty red down below, and the Dems need to figure out what they’re going to do about that. If the GOP controls the legislature, year in and year out, then the GOP can pretty much get its way when it wins the governorship. And when they don’t, the Dems can really only block the GOP from making their usual mess of things, but can’t pass their own program. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/24 "2013-11-06T16:22:50Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > For a state that’s clearly gone purple in the marquee races, it’s still pretty red down below, and the Dems need to figure out what they’re going to do about that. Isn’t that the same gerrymandering issue we saw in a bunch of states in 2012, or is there a different reason in Virginia? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/25 "2013-11-06T16:23:50Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Will this be enough to wake the Republicans up? McAuliffe is a pretty unlikeable guy and not even a mediocre candidate. One would think that would tell the GOP that Teabaggers are an electoral carcinogen. Had they run someone with any degree of moderation, they could probably have kept the governor’s seat. They almost won after getting massively outspent, of course it won’t. They will just claim with a little more establishment support Cuccinelli would have won, and they might actually be right. Both candidates were horrible, there really isn’t much to say about this race. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/26 "2013-11-06T16:31:23Z")
There was some speculation that third-party candidates would pick up a decent share (well, decent for third parties) from protest votes. Did that materialize? ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/27 "2013-11-06T16:37:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There was some speculation that third-party candidates would pick up a decent share (well, decent for third parties) from protest votes. Did that materialize? The libertarian candidate got 6.6% of the vote, I think. More than usual for a third-party candidate, but less than he was polling at. I think that many of the anti-Cuccinelli protest votes got wobbly at the prospect of McAuliffe as governor. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/28 "2013-11-06T16:37:39Z")
Depends on what you consider decent, i think it was around 6%. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/29 "2013-11-06T16:37:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There was some speculation that third-party candidates would pick up a decent share (well, decent for third parties) from protest votes. Did that materialize? Looks like the Libertarian candidate got 7% of the vote (16% of those under 30). That seems like a lot, but I don’t know VA’s history with that party. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/30 "2013-11-06T16:39:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There was some speculation that third-party candidates would pick up a decent share (well, decent for third parties) from protest votes. Did that materialize? The final-ish results are 48% for McAuliffe, 45.5% for Cuccinelli, and 6.6% for libertarian Robert Sarvis. The “Sarvis ruined it for Cuccinelli!” story was squashed in advance when [a poll showed that McAuliffe was the second choice for a plurality of Sarvis voters.](http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/virginia/release-detail?ReleaseID=1971) It seems more like a protest vote than a split among Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/31 "2013-11-06T16:45:40Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The final-ish results are 48% for McAuliffe, 45.5% for Cuccinelli, and 6.6% for libertarian Robert Sarvis. The “Sarvis ruined it for Cuccinelli!” story was squashed in advance when [a poll showed that McAuliffe was the second choice for a plurality of Sarvis voters.](http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/virginia/release-detail?ReleaseID=1971) It seems more like a protest vote than a split among Republicans. But that only “squashes” the story depending on who actually voted for Sarvis, right? Although, anecdotally (as a Virginia resident) every Sarvis voter I know was a disgruntled Republican. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/32 "2013-11-06T17:08:34Z")
Anyone know how likely it would be, if the Dems do turn out to sweep all 3 seats, to reverse some of the horrible laws passed under the last governor? I’m thinking specifically of whatever happened to the transvaginal probe law and the law that the Cooch used to throw thousands of voters off the voter rolls at the last minute. Would the Dems have to get the GOP dominated legislature to pass a new law amending it or can they pull a Prop 8 and just not enforce or defend it? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/33 "2013-11-06T17:13:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Isn’t that the same gerrymandering issue we saw in a bunch of states in 2012, or is there a different reason in Virginia? I think it’s simply because NoVa is blue, and very populous, while the rest of the state is red. ---
**Author:** ![A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_nice_guy_with_an_opinion)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/34 "2013-11-06T18:02:49Z")
Terry’s first act as Gov should be to propose the state’s name be changed to Vagina. Wtg, womenz. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/35 "2013-11-06T18:21:27Z")
> [@A\_nice\_guy\_with\_an\_opinion](#): > > Terry’s first act as Gov should be to propose the state’s name be changed to Vagina. > > Wtg, womenz. A perfect self-portrait painted in only 18 words. Well done! ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/36 "2013-11-06T18:25:21Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > But that only “squashes” the story depending on who actually voted for Sarvis, right? > > Although, anecdotally (as a Virginia resident) every Sarvis voter I know was a disgruntled Republican. Actually, the Facebook scuttlebutt now is that Sarvis was a paid shill/plant for the Democrats… That he was the Ross Perot to Cooch’s Bush I. Let me see if I can find the article. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/37 "2013-11-06T18:27:04Z")
[here](http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/05/revealed-obama-campaign-bundler-helping-fund-libertarian-in-tight-va-gubernatorial-race/) it is… Obviously, the article doesn’t say what quite what they want it to say. But, it is conspiracy enough to not have to face up to the facts that Virginians will not elect an extremist like Cooch. Better to focus on conspiracy theories and rage about campaign money, than face facts I guess. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/38 "2013-11-06T18:29:16Z")
I am the target demographic for Cuccinelli. Pro-life; life member of the NRA; evangelical; generally anti “tax and spend.” I like(d) him as Attorney General. I voted for Sarvis. Probably the first vote in my life for a non-Republican. Yes, it was a protest vote. Reasons 1. I don’t remember voting for Cuccinelli during the primary. Oh, that’s right! There WAS no primary b/c the geniuses in my party decided to ram through a non-viable candidate. Almost anyone should have been able to beat McAuliffe, who is a party shill, shady businessman, and from my perspective a horrible human being, and a joke as a candidate. I voted for Cuccinelli for Attorney General, NOT to be a candidate for another job. Especially a hand-picked one where the people who voted the first time didn’t have a chance to weigh in at the ballot box. So, STRIKE 1 1. His stance on immigration. Yes, it tracks with the majority of the GOP these days, but it doesn’t make it right. I’m all for the DREAM Act and path toward citizenship and the like. Round-ups and deportation tearing families apart? I’m ashamed of my Party on this issue. So, STRIKE 2 1. He made a campaign appearance with the idiot Ted Cruz. Anyone who stands with the idiot Ted Cruz does not get my vote. So STRIKE 3. You’re out. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/39 "2013-11-06T18:30:36Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > There really are a bunch of ways to look at this election and I’ll be interested to see what serous analysts come up with in the next few days or weeks. Why did the result diverge from the latest polls? Did some of the people who said they’d vote for McAuliffe decide they couldn’t stomach a Democrat after all? Was it because the ACA rollout story came to predominate while older stories like the shutdown faded? Did the Republicans do better (or Democrats worse) at turning out their voters? Was the sampling off in some other way? I’m extremely doubtful that a last-minute Obama appearance swung the polls by a huge amount. I don’t know if this had anything to do with it but McAulliffe veered hard left after the shutdown gave him a double digit lead in the polls. It seemed to energize a lot of conservatives. I know more than a few “a pox on both their houses” type gun nuts that voted where they otherwise might not have because of McAulliffe’s comments about an AWB in the debate and the week before the election. > [@](#): > > Their awful candidate just barely beat the Republicans’ awful candidate; perhaps if they hadn’t nominated Cuccinelli behind closed doors they’d have found someone who could have picked up a few more votes in the middle. Sure Bolling might have beaten Cuccinelli but the Republicans recognize that they have a shrinking base so they need higher turnout (or disnefranchise the other side’s base) and the way to do that is to go tea party. Despite what they say, they suspect, they have lost the middle. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Am I the only one who doesn’t understand what the McAuliffe hate is all about? He is a partisan political insider (DNC chairman, Clinton fundraiser) People see him as a bit of a carpet bagger because he has much closer tieds to Washington DC than to Virginia. His wealth seems to come largely as a result fo cronyism and political connections. He is anti-coal in a state that have large swaths of coal country. He is anti-gun in a state like Virginia which makes him seem even more like a transplant. He has NO experience in elected office. > [@bup](#): > > I’m disappointed McAuliffe won. > > On the other hand, I’m thrilled Cuccinelli lost. This. > [@Falchion](#): > > But that only “squashes” the story depending on who actually voted for Sarvis, right? > > Although, anecdotally (as a Virginia resident) every Sarvis voter I know was a disgruntled Republican. That’s funny, every Sarvis voter I know was a disgusted Democrat. Gee I wonder if there is a better wat to do this than picking up two data points. I wonder if there is a way to get lots and lots of data points. maybe we could give this information collecting a name… lets call it polling.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216/40 "2013-11-06T18:37:40Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Sure Bolling might have beaten Cuccinelli but the Republicans recognize that they have a shrinking base so they need higher turnout (or disnefranchise the other side’s base) and the way to do that is to go tea party. Despite what they say, they suspect, they have lost the middle. If that’s the strategy it doesn’t seem to be working. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcauliffe-virginias-new-governor/673216.md?page=3)