Tuesday, June 02, 2009
The life of the party
Statewide candidates talk about reinvigorating the GOP.
Supporters of the Republican ticket greet the candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general at a campaign stop in Roanoke on Monday morning.
Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times
Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, made a campaign stop Monday morning at Roanoke Regional Airport.
Related
roanoke.com/politics
The Republican ticket for statewide offices jetted across Virginia on Monday, exhorting audiences at six stops not to believe the commonwealth has turned blue just yet.
"After the 2008 election, some people were writing our obituary," said Ken Cuccinelli, the party's newly nominated candidate for attorney general. "Well, we're not dead yet," he told a cheering crowd of a hundred or more at Roanoke Regional Airport.
Bob McDonnell, candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who's running for re-election, and Cuccinelli flew into the city about 10:30 a.m. for their second rally of the day and their first joint trip since last weekend's statewide party convention.
Cuccinelli, a lawyer and state senator from Fairfax County, won the attorney general nomination over former Roanoke federal prosecutor John Brownlee and Arlington lawyer Dave Foster in the most competitive GOP race.
McDonnell resigned from the attorney general's job in February to devote himself full time to the gubernatorial race. Bolling is seeking re-election to the job he has held the past four years.
Joined now by Cuccinelli, they hammered hard on many of what have been some of their central campaign themes for the past two months -- job creation; energy, including "clean" coal and offshore drilling; an anti-abortion position; protection of gun rights; and economic growth through lower taxes and deregulation.
"I'm going to be a 'jobs' governor," McDonnell said.
His Roanoke audience included young and old, black and white, men and women. Numerous local party dignitaries in attendance -- including state Sen. Ralph Smith, House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith and 6th Congressional District Chairman Fred Anderson -- were recognized by the candidates.
None spoke during the rally, however. The master of ceremonies was state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Faquier County.
In an interview afterward, Anderson said he was especially pleased with the rally and the just-completed convention.
"There's a real enthusiasm out there. I can feel it and it is a lot different from last year," when Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state in 44 years.
While acknowledging that the party still has a lot of work to do to make its candidates and positions known, Anderson said, "I think we have a common-sense, conservative message that appeals to the men and women of the commonwealth.
"These are exciting times to be a Republican" in Virginia, he said. "I believe we're going to carry all three [statewide offices] this year."
Cuccinelli also predicted the first GOP "sweep" of those offices in 12 years.
The candidates were scheduled to make stops in Weyers Cave, Northern Virginia, Fredericksburg and Norfolk after leaving Roanoke.
