Breaking: Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli To Run For Governor

Interesting:

Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will be announcing his bid for Virginia Governor in the coming days, possibly as soon as the RPV Advance this weekend.

One more reason why the blogosphere trumps the MSM.

A Couple Of Good Questions Have Been Raised

The first is from Andrew Malcolm. Technically, it's from Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

"Imagine if this bill were that in order to protect our communities and homeland security, every American had to buy a gun. Can you imagine the reaction across the country to that?"

There's more there so be sure to read the whole thing.



And the second question is from TrogloPundit. Which is worth checking out for the Homer Simpson motivation poster alone.

More From The Tea Party Convention

The Tea Party has grown up.

They are still an independent group operating on a local level in many aspects but have enough heft to pull off a national convention if needed.  

I talked to a few people, some who didn't want to go on record, about the movement today. One concern was that the Tea Party has moved beyond its humble grassroots starts and has become a bit more automatized.  That was necessary and inevitable though.  It needed to compete with Move On and other George Soros funded activist groups.  

For such a young organization, it's amazing to see how it's grown.

Long before the Tea Party had its name, many people were dissatisfied with how government was working way back in the George W. Bush years. With the growth of government under the Bush years-- coupled with the bail-outs, TARP and the other mini-stimulus**-- that happened, disillusionment was bound to set it among conservative voters. And John "Amnesty" McCain winning the nomination next didn't help either. Many people didn't see much difference between McCain and Obama other than scale and the letter after the names.

It wasn't until Rick Santelli gave his rant and said "tea party" that people were able to rally behind. The Tea Party name had the historical context that anyone with a 4th grade education in history can understand.* Bush heated up the water. Obama brought it to a boil.

Enough about that, pretty much anyone who has been really following the movement knows how it started. I needed something write about and post some more pictures of the event.

Ron Paul.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, former Sen. George Allen, Jamie Radke of the Richmond Tea Party, U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa and former Sen. Rick Santorum.

The RT was there.

There was more foreign press at the convention than domestic. Obviously, the local stations covered the event.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Canada
Suomen Kuvalehti - Finland News Magazine Finland
STT (Finnish National News) and MTV3 (Finnish Television News) Finland
Radio-France (French Public Radio) France
DIE ZEIT (The Time) Germany
German National Radio Germany
ARD German TV Germany
Freie Presse | Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung | Die Rheinpfalz Germany
ZDF German Television Germany
Fuji Television, Japan's largest broacast network, partners with ABC Japan
Horizontes Online.com Latino
Dutch TV Netherlands
Russian news portal www.slon.ru Russia
RT America Russia
LA GACETA and the magazine ÉPOCA - European Mass Media Intereconomia Spain
Swiss TV - the primary public broacaster for Switzerland Switzerland
The Guardian UK

Thanks to Chuck from the Richmond Tea Party for the listing.

Bitter clingers everywhere you see.

*Unless your name is Gwen Ifill and happen to live in Washington DC. Then you're an ignorant gutter trollop who has cruised through life thanks to affirmative action who can't pick up a historical reference when it slaps her in the face. Much like a pimp slapping his ho because she doesn't have his money.

**It was a mini-stimulus by comparison with today's standards. Again, this highlights the problem with Big Government Republicans. Why vote for someone who will do the job half-assed when you can vote for the liberal and show you how real wasteful spending is done.

Can We Call Marco Rubio A Fundraising Star Now?

Chalk this up as one more reason for the NRSC to stay out of the primary. It seems like Marco Rubio is starting to self finance just fine all his own.

[VA]Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has now become a national leader for conservative causes--and you don't have to take just our word for it.

Cuccinelli is a "nationwide leader in fighting the unconstitutional excesses of the federal government." That's according to Marco Rubio, a candidate in the GOP primary for senator in Florida and himself a conservative favorite, in a statement accepting Cuccinelli's endorsement of his candidacy this weekend.

Cuccinelli has joined a variety of Republicans taking sides in the Florida primary battle between Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist. Last week, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) also chose the more conservative Rubio over Crist.

If I recall, one of the big reasons why the NRSC asked Crist to run was because Crist could self-finance an election at the time. That will be an issue when he goes with an independent bid.

As of March 31, Crist was sitting on a healthy $7.6 million in his federal campaign account, but he’s going to need every penny — and more — in a race where a statewide media buy likely will cost well more than $1 million per week this fall.

Besides advertising, Crist will have to build a get-out-the-vote operation and gather voter information to microtarget his voters. One operative who has worked on multiple high-profile Independent campaigns said both of those important components — which make up a major part of what party organizations provide — can be bought on the open market, for a price.

But unlike New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), who spent $102 million of his vast fortune to win re-election last fall, Crist can’t self-fund his bid.
[. . .]
Crist won’t be legally obligated to return the money that he’s raised and could try weathering the storm to preserve precious cash. But that would create its own issues with news stories about donors saying Crist took their money under false pretenses. If nothing else, it will be an awkward story for Crist to deal with as he tries to relaunch and rebrand himself.

Exit Question: What state should Crist retire quietly to?

Cross posted at Not One Red Cent.

The Tax Day Rally In Richmond

The weather was much nicer than last year and, according to WTVR in Richmond, the crowds were larger too. The Tea Party isn't going away.

A no frills message.

The view from the stage. 

One more from the stage.  RTC had a much higher stage and louder sound system than last year.  Lessons learned and applied.

Last picture from up high. 

She was with the Republican Liberty Alliance. Trying to reform the Republican Party from the inside. She also brings up this clip from Real Clear Politics. NBC News reporter Kelly O'Donnell asks a black man at a Tea Party, "Have you ever felt uncomfortable?"

A green job I can get behind.

Heh.

They are not seen here but the lady in the middle had some very cool looking tattoos.  There is a market for Conservative Ink after all.

Great turnout for the Tea Party. And this was the Richmond Flying Squirrels home opener too.

This was this years version of "It doesn't matter what this sign says, you will call me 'Racist' anyway".

VA Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli made a brief appearance but didn't speak to the crowd. The RTC is non-partisan and has purposefully stayed away from letting elected officials campaign speak. More power to them for doing that.

Charles Payne of Fox Business News brought the crowds to cheers and applause when he gave his keynote address. Some minor criticism went out to the RTP for having a paid speaker. In their defense, he was worth the price. Not only was it an inspiring speech but there was something about having 'Star Power' there. Not that there wasn't any coverage from last year but with this year, the local networks were wanting to get backstage and get some soundbites from Mr. Payne. The coverage was a little more intense. Giving the Tax Day Rally that much higher profile of an event.

And the higher the profile, the better the chances of the Tea Party message has to reach that much more people.

Mission accomplished.

Cross posted at The Richmond Liberty Alliance.

The Push Back Starts

With Virginia State Law to help back A.G. Ken Cuccinelli up.

[T]he Virginia General Assembly has passed a bill that is expected to get the signature of the state’s governor.

By an 80-17 vote, the Virginia House of Delegates passed HB 10, sponsored by Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-13th District), which states that no resident of the commonwealth shall be required to obtain or maintain individual insurance coverage. All 17 “nay” votes were cast by Democratic delegates.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, has already said he would sign the bill into law, making Virginia the first state in the nation to challenge any mandates that could be handed down from Washington, D.C.

Gadsden Flags For A Good Price

Find out where the next Cuccinelli event is and pick yours up for cheaper than you can find online. Being able to buy the iconic yellow flag cheaper than you can find online and supporting Sen. Cuccinelli at the same time? That’s what they call win/win.

It is easy to over look Sen. Cuccinelli’s race for Attorney General. Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds are running a rather heated race. And Bill Boiling and Jody Wagner are starting to sling some mud. Cuccinelli may be up in the polls but there really is only one poll that matters. That of November 3rd.

Saturday night in Beaverdam was a pig roast/fund raiser for Ken. Whoever worked the BBQ did a phenomenal job, by the way. It was a bit cold out but still there was a nice turn out for dinner and a chance to meet with the State Senator. Close to $10,000 was raised for him. Respectable for one night. But for a campaign like this, he can always use more. Seeing how Steve Shannon, his opponent, is out-raising him , money is one thing that Ken can use.

I didn't know about this until today but if you can, please donate to Sen. Cuccinelli's campaign tomorrow for an October 20th money bomb. It won't guarantee him a win but he can't lose without it. Virginia can use a good conservative in office to help keep Bob McDonnell in check.

New Commercial For Sen. Cuccinelli

KC 4 VA AG

Or, for those of you who do not speak text, Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General. And if you want to help to help Sen. Cuccinelli out, this is the page you really want.