Virginia state senator Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, who is at least as crazy as Sally Kern and just as much of a gay-hater, has announced he is running to be the GOP candidate for Virginia Attorney General. Having just barely won re-election last fall, in my view the man is delusional if he thinks he can win a statewide race. Moreover, should he get the GOP attorney general nomination and Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell be the GOP nominee for governor, the GOP would be putting forth the most anti-gay, reactionary ticket in recent memory. I can only hope that they both go down to resounding defeat and then perhaps the Republican Party of Virginia will get the message that Virginia's citizens are moving forward in the 21st century and are tired of the GOP's efforts to keep Virginia in the 1950's. Here are some story highlights (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VA_CUCCINELLI_ATTORNEY_GENERAL_VAOL-?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT):
Cuccinelli, 39, is among the Senate's most forceful opponents of abortion rights, gun control, gay rights and no-fault divorce, an advocate for classroom prayer in public schools and crackdowns on illegal or undocumented immigrants.
Cuccinelli's announcement follows by one week the announcement by Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling to pass on a run for governor. His decision, along with former Gov. George Allen's choice to sit out the race, leaves Attorney General Bob McDonnell uncontested for the GOP nomination. Cuccinelli won the 39th District seat from western Fairfax County in a 2002 special election, succeeding Republican Sen. Warren E. Barry, who resigned to head the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Five years later, with Democrats resurgent statewide, Cuccinelli raised more than $1.2 million to defeat Democratic challenger Janet Oleszek. His re-election was affirmed only after a recount found that he won by 101 votes out of more than 37,000 cast. Two other Republican senators from Fairfax County - the state's most populous locality - lost their seats to Democrats, and Cuccinelli's narrow victory makes him the lone GOP senator from the immediate suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Cuccinelli's record of supporting legislation to substantially curb abortion access, crack down on illegal aliens and battle what he calls "the homosexual agenda" has made him a hero of religious and social conservatives, a following he has nurtured for years as a political base for his first statewide run. Most of the six anti-abortion bills he has sponsored in his 1 1/2 terms in the Senate went after clinics that perform abortions and would have put most of them out of business by requiring them to meet the same equipment and construction standards as hospitals.
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