Will Virginia Democrats Meet the Cuccinelli Threat?

A column in the Washington Post asks an important question in light of the recent confirmation that Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli intends to run for governor of Virginia in 2013: will Virginia Democrats get their shit together and take on Kookinelli head on and make sure he is defeated? As noted before, in my view Kookinelli is the Christianist version of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He's totally crazy like Ahmadinejad and he's likewise an ego maniac. A very dangerous combination and something that ought to terrify every non-Christianist in Virginia of every race, creed and background. If Bob McDonnell has tried to move Virginia back to the 19th century, Kookinelli would strive to take Virginia back to the 11th century - with The Family Foundation in directly in charge of all social policy. The Democrats need to start the anti-Cuccinelli campaign now and help set the stage for Kookinelli and Bolling to mutually self-destruct. Here are some column highlights:

Ken Cuccinelli II’s announcement that he will run for Virginia governor in 2013 presages some interesting days ahead.

The controversial, hard-right attorney general has been a highly polarizing figure in state politics. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, he stubbornly insists that humans have little to do with climate change and has indulged in a months-long witchhunt against a former University of Virginia scientist who, like most of his colleagues in the civilized world, does see a link. Cuccinelli has trampled on gay rights by pushing to end legal protections against discrimination against gays in public universities. He has fought headlong against President Obama’s health-care reform, spending plenty of taxpayer money in the process.

Meanwhile, Cuccinelli hasn’t come up with much in the way of positive proposals or platforms. Perhaps that’s not his job as attorney general, but right now voters don’t have a clear idea what he’s for, only what he’s against. Given Cuccinelli’s obvious and robust reactionary ideas, it will be hard for him to remake himself into a moderate the way Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, once a hard-line social conservative, seems to have done.

The state GOP establishment has been pushing Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling as McDonnell’s successor, notably by calling him the “go to” guy on jobs. The fact is that Bolling is pleasant — and utterly forgettable.

Either way, the state’s Democrats badly need to get their act together. And fast. They are going to have to come up with a better candidate than Creigh Deeds, who was easily beaten by McDonnell last time.

The Democrats clearly need to find a candidate who is NOT from Southwest Virginia - the last three from both parties have lost. They also need to find a candidate who's not afraid to strongly campaign for a progressive agenda and who can put forth a vision for how Virginia can move prosperously into the future. Creigh Deeds was hopeless when it came to doing this and the Democrats need to not make the mistake of running someone who is basically a warmed over version of a weak, moderate Republican as the party's candidate again.