Pro-Life Ken Cuccinelli Trails Pro-Abortion Terry McAuliffe by 7 in Virginia

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 23, 2013   |   10:29AM   |   Richmond, VA

The marquee race in the 2013 off-year election cycle is the race for Governor, where pro-life Ken Cuccinelli trails pro-abortion Terry McAuliffe by seven points in a new poll. Because it is not getting the attention that it deserves, pro-life advocates are asked to get involved in the race to help Cuccinelli.

From a news story on the poll:

The Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, less than two weeks before Election day, shows Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe with a 46%-39% advantage over Republican rival Ken Cuccinelli, with Libertarian Party candidate Robert Sarvis hitting the double digits at 10%.

Four percent of likely voters say they’re undecided, and 7% say there’s a “good chance” they could change their mind, according to Quinnipiac.

The results are mostly consistent with a Quinnipiac survey released October 10, when McAuliffe was ahead among likely voters 47%-39%. Sarvis had support from 8%.

And an NBC4/NBC News/Marist poll released last week also showed an eight percentage point margin between the top two candidates. McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, had 46%, while Cuccinelli, the commonwealth’s attorney general, had 38%. Sarvis had 9%.

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling institute, said one of Cuccinelli’s biggest obstacles is failing to win the support of an overwhelming majority of his party.

“Generally over the past decades, especially in southern states like Virginia, Republicans win when they have strong party allegiance among their base,” Brown said. “One reason McAuliffe is ahead is that he wins 92% of Democrats while Cuccinelli has only 81% of Republicans. If Cuccinelli can’t bring more Republicans home, he is likely to be toast.”

Meanwhile, Mat Staver of Liberty Action is encouraging pro-life advocates to get involved in the race.

Depending on how the Virginia gubernatorial race turns out, the national political landscape could change dramatically.

Reports have surfaced that if McAuliffe wins Virginia, he is considered to be on the short list to be Hillary Clinton’s VP running mate when she makes her run for President.

That is one of the many reasons why this hotly contested campaign is being closely watched by national operatives as an indicator of what may happen in 2014 – and 2016.

Terry McAuliffe has enough scandals and shady business deals to sink any candidate for office – local or national.  Yet the complicit media chooses to ignore McAuliffe’s past and his currently active investigations. Further, Terry McAuliffe has never held political office.

Ken Cuccinelli has successfully held public office. He is pro-life, pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-Second Amendment; anti-ObamaCare; a family man with impeccable moral integrity. I have known Ken personally for several years.

And Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national pro-life group the Susan B. Anthony List said there is a clear divide.

She told LifeNews: “Terry McAuliffe is not just an extreme candidate, now we know he is a duplicitous candidate. McAuliffe cannot go on television and radio claiming that Ken Cuccinelli is an extreme pro-life candidate at the same time he sends out robocalls claiming that Cuccinelli is not pro-life. Virginia voters deserve better than Terry McAuliffe, who is using these desperate, hypocritical tactics to distract from his extreme position on abortion.”

McAuliffe has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of seriousness and knowledge when confronted by the media on the abortion issue. When he was asked directly by The Weekly Standard about his position on taxpayer funded abortion on demand, Terry McAuliffe commented about the weather. McAuliffe’s campaign also told Politico that ads exposing McAuliffe’s support for taxpayer funding of abortion on demand were “false,” but did not point to a single inaccuracy.