Cuccinelli set to run for Governor
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has decided to run for the Commonwealth’s top political office – governor in 2013 - according to Republican sources and media reports late Wednesday.
The conservative politician and tea party favorite son will reveal his plans next week according to The Washington Post.
The move will set off an intense GOP primary battle between Cuccinelli and Lt.Gov Bill Bolling who has already announced his plans to succeed current Governor Bob McDonnell. The three Republicans swept to victory in 2009.
The high profile Cuccinelli, who was the first to sue the Obama administration’s controversial health care act known as ‘Obamacare’, has repeatedly said he was content to seek re-election for his current post though speculation has been rife as to whether he would run for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Mark Warner (D) or seek the top-of-the-ticket position in the next gubernatorial race.
This will be unwelcome news to Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, 54, who seemed poised as the GOP’s choice to succeed the popular current Governor Bob McDonnell who, himself, is the subject of much speculation as a possible Vice-Presidential pick.
The Associated Press reports that Lt. Gov. Bolling coolly greeted the Attorney General’s plans to enter the gubernatorial race.
"Lieutenant Governor Bolling has made clear that he intends to run for governor in 2013 and we hope that Ken will be a part of our ticket. We think that would be best for the Republican Party," said Bolling's chief of staff, Randy Marcus according to one report.
It was Bill Bolling who, in 2009, held back from running for governor instead deferring to then Attorney General Bob McDonnell and seeking a second term as lieutenant.
Chief of Staff Randy Marcus said that Bolling "set aside his personal ambition" for a united ticket then in the best interests of the Commonwealth, as McDonnell, Bolling and Cuccinelli swept to office in a Republican landslide attributed in part to an anti-Obama vote following the 2008 presidential election.
"That worked well in 2009 and it's the right approach in 2013," Marcus said.
Coincidentally, or not, Cuccinelli is set to quiz the GOP presidential candidates as a panelist for a Fox News-sponsored forum along with the Republican attorneys general of Florida and Oklahoma this Saturday December 3 in New York City.
The debate will concentrate on federalism which will give Cuccinelli to pose questions about the constitutional overreach of ‘Obamacare’ and other federal government intrusions. The debate will appear on the ‘Huckabee’ program.
Cuccinelli, 43, had served two terms in the state senate elected from the highly Democratic-leaning Fairfax County in Northern Virginia before becoming the GOP nominee for Attorney General and then elected to that office in 2009.
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