Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe, gets an advertising boost from green billionaire

Oh no, environmentalist billionaires are descending upon Virginia’s airwaves, run! Well, at least one environmentalist billionaire is coming to the aid of Virginia’s Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe. And this great man’s name is Tom Steyer, a California-based financier who has the crazy goal of stopping the human race from killing itself.

According to Politico, Steyer informed his group, NextGen Climate Action, to load up Virginia’s advertisement sphere with pro-climate ads that is hoped will bring climate-minded voters out to the polls come this November to vote for a candidate who actually believes in climate change (i.e., Terry McAuliffe).

Among the important consequences of Steyer’s upcoming infusion of “green capital” into Virginia’s gubernatorial race was put best by Politico: “The bet, for Steyer, is that making climate issues a prominent part of the Virginia election will nudge the center of national politics in a greener direction, shaping the political landscape for 2014 and 2016 and giving environmental interests a stronger hand to play in Washington policy debates.”

As Politico implies, there is no guarantee that Steyerism will catch on in Virginia as an important pusher of “green politics,” but the experiment could be the first of many in this battleground state. If Steyer’s greener message does catch on and influence the election for Virginia’s next governor, it’s highly likely that other green-minded fat-cats will turn their financing spotlight onto the emerging political king-maker, Virginia.

At this point, though, the fact that Steyer has entered Virginia’s political octagon is a sure sign that the times have shifted in a greener direction. I recall when I moved to Virginia a little over a decade ago the relative lack of environmental consciousness. At that point, the Steyer’s of America probably hadn’t even thought about broaching Virginia’s antiquated politics with a message of green.

And Steyer’s financial help probably could not have come at a better time as McAuliffe’s opponent, Ken Cuccinelli, appears to go to sleep every night thinking about how he can bring the planet to a quicker point of destruction. That is, Cuccinelli is truly an environmentally conscious person’s worst nightmare.