Sunday, November 11, 2012

Terry McAuliffe announces his intention to run for Virginia governor in 2013


It’s finally official: Terry McAuliffe will be running for the executive mansion in 2013 in what will be his second attempt for that coveted living quarter.

After McAuliffe was granted “the green light”[1] by U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the Northern Virginia businessman apparently felt it was politically safe to finally throw in his hat and begin phoning Democratic Party big-wigs about his intentions.

Up until this point it was an open question as to whether or not former Virginia governor and current U.S. Senator Mark Warner would throw off his senatorial robe for another shot at the governorship. Warner told reporters that he would make a decision by Thanksgiving as to whether he would seek Virginia’s governorship again and it seems as though we have received his answer, even though it’s not yet official.[2]

Assuming Mark Warner decides to stay in the Senate and chum it up like old times with his new U.S. Senate counterpart, Tim Kaine, Terry McAuliffe will face a tougher battle for governor than Mark Warner.

Even though McAuliffe is a former Democratic National Committee chairman known for his close relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton and business acumen,[3] neither of these attributes equate to wide scale name recognition in the commonwealth. Do you know who Terry McAuliffe is?

McAuliffe will be facing Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling or Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli for governor. It will be interesting to see who “out rights” the other in this unequivocally unfrothy (yes, I made this word up) political battle.

If it all goes right (pun intended), then McAuliffe may reap the same benefits that President Obama did when Mitt Romney decided to flank even his most conservative primary opponents, thereby losing ground with the country’s moderate voters.

Regardless of who among those two wins his respective primary, I’m confident that McAuliffe’s intelligence, affability, and vision will be enough to propel him into the governorship of Virginia.[4] 

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