Obama Ties Ken Cuccinelli to GOP Obstructionists

Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for.  Ken Cuccinelli may be a case in point.  He wanted to be a hero to the Tea Party and has embraced the far right of the GOP's opposition to health care reform and taxes.  Virginians know too well where they led to in Washington under the demagoguery of Cuccinelli allies  like Ted Cruz.  They also know that Cuccinelli in typical Tea Party fashion opposed increased funding for Virginia's inadequate transportation system and highways.  Speaking at a rally in Northern Virginia, Barack Obama tightened the noose and tied Cuccinelli to the GOP obstructionist that nearly caused America to default on its debts, including Social Security and Medicare payments  Obama also warned that Democrats cannot be complacent.  Those opposed to the extreme GOP agenda must make a point to get out and vote on Novemeber 5th.  .  Politico looks at Obama's remarks.  Here are highlights:

Democrats gambled Sunday that Virginia voters are angrier with Republicans over the shutdown than at Barack Obama for the botched health care rollout.

The president worked during an afternoon rally in the D.C. suburb of Arlington to link the GOP candidate for governor, Ken Cuccinelli, with the wing of the national party he blames for paralysis.

“You’ve seen an extreme faction of the Republican Party that has shown again and again and again that they’re willing to hijack the entire party and the country and the economy and grind progress to an absolute halt if they don’t get 100 percent of what they want,” Obama told a crowd of 1,600 in a high school gymnasium.

“You cannot afford to have a governor who is thinking the same way,” he added, highlighting how furloughs hurt Virginia more than almost anywhere else. “That’s a practical job. They can’t afford to be an ideologue.” Obama said Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe will follow in the pragmatic legacy of the two previous Democratic governors, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both of whom are now in the Senate.

The frontrunner seized instead on an interview that Cuccinelli gave Fox News on Friday in which he said he’s “perfectly happy” with voter attention turning away from the shutdown — which ended two-and-a-half weeks ago — and back to Obamacare, an issue more helpful to him.

McAuliffe slammed Cuccinelli for not publicly condemning Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) when both spoke at a gala for social conservatives in Richmond during the shutdown, even though Cuccinelli has said he told Cruz backstage to get the shutdown over with as soon as possible.

McAuliffe also attacked Cuccinelli for refusing to say how he would have voted on the compromise that ended the imbroglio.

“He stood with the tea party and not with Virginia families,” McAuliffe said. “Can you even imagine if Ted Cruz, Ken Cuccinelli and the tea party ran the Virginia government?”

A major emphasis of the president’s speech was warning Democrats not to take for granted McAuliffe’s lead in the polls.

“Nothing makes me more nervous than when my supporters start feeling too confident, so I want to put the fear of God in all of you,” Obama said. “Virginia historically has always been a swing state, and this race will be close because past races in this state have always been close.”

The McAuliffe campaign has gone to great lengths to activate the Obama coalition, especially women and African-Americans, without the first black president on the ballot.  Actress Kerry Washington of the show “Scandal” focused on a laundry list of issues important to the coalition.