Will Obenshain and the Republicans Steal the AG Election?

Jeff Shapiro, political columnist for the Richmond Times Dispatch that looks at the frightening manner in which Ken Cuccinelli clone, Mark Obenshain, and Republican members of the Virginia General Assembly may yet steal Mark Herrings victory in the race for Virginia Attorney General.  One can hope that these individuals will not try to overthrow the popular vote, but given their eagerness to disenfranchise voters through voter ID laws and other machination, I for one do not have a warm and fuzzy feeling about the honesty or integrity of Obenshain in particular and the Virginia GOP in general.  The fact that the party's base now consists of a mix of religious extremists, white supremacists, homophobes and anti-women factions doesn't suggest a party that values the will of the general public or the rights of others.  Here are highlights from Shapiro's column:

Republican Mark Obenshain is trailing Democrat Mark Herring for attorney general by 164 votes. Obenshain could win with as few as 71 — with not a single one cast by an ordinary Virginian. It is a nuclear option that takes the election out of the hands of the electorate.

Obenshain could initiate what state law calls a “contest” in which the 140-member legislature decides the attorney generalship by a majority vote. That would be a minimum of 71. They shouldn’t be too difficult for Obenshain to round up. There are 87 Republican legislators. Many of them don’t like one bit that their party could be completely shut out of statewide office.

A contest would be high-risk. Democrats would almost certainly accuse Obenshain of stealing the election, having overridden the popular vote in an increasingly blue state. A contest also could be high reward. Obenshain would cement his status as his party’s titular leader and its likely gubernatorial nominee in 2017. But the big issue that year would probably be Obenshain’s scheming four years earlier.

Obenshain’s advisers are not saying what he will do. . . . . Continuing Republican fundraising by, among others, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the defeated candidate for governor, suggests that Obenshain is preparing for any eventuality.

On Monday, the Virginia elections board will certify Herring as the winner by what apparently is the closest margin ever in a statewide election here: 164 votes. At that point, Obenshain could request a recount at taxpayer expense, run by a Richmond court.

The supervising judge could be Brad Cavedo, chief judge of the city’s Circuit Court. He has a special tie to Obenshain. Cavedo, once a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, was the driver and confidant of Obenshain’s storied father, Dick, and was one of the last people to see alive the Republican U.S. Senate nominee before he died in a plane crash in Chesterfield County on Aug. 2, 1978.

Mark Obenshain could go through a recount — though it’s not required to seek a contest — hoping it does what no modern recount has done in Virginia: reverse the outcome of the election.

Then, having endured the recount — a process likely to drag into the countdown hours to Christmas — Obenshain would have political to launch a contest in the General Assembly. He could say he is taking this extraordinary step to ensure every vote is counted.  More to the point: that every one of Obenshain’s votes is counted . . . . 

The legislature serves as a court, hearing evidence and rendering a judgment.  And it would be a court that, if only because of the preponderance of a particular party label, presumably would be very friendly to Obenshain.

Do we really want a man who is willing to steal an election as the top attorney for the Commonwealth?  If Obenshain would do this, what else would he do in office.  I find the prospect nothing short of frightening. Today's GOP has turly become something toxic and dangerous.  The women of Virginia in particular should be terrified by the prospect of Obenshain stealing the election.