Democrat Terry McAuliffe sought to hone in on issues that might widen the polling gap between him and his opponent, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), among women voters, during a gubernatorial debate on Wednesday night.
During multiple questions by moderator and MSNBC host Chuck Todd, McAuliffe tried to paint Cuccinelli as a conservative extremist who’s out of touch on women’s issues and gay rights.
“He sponsored personhood legislation that would outlaw most forms of contraception, would make the pill illegal,” McAuliffe said. “He’s referred to gay Virginians as self-destructive and soulless human beings. He was one of only three attorney generals when the Violence Against Women’s was being reauthorized in the United States Congress — 47 attorney generals signed the letter — violence against women, not controversial. He is one of three that refused to sign it. It has been a pattern.”
McAuliffe then linked Cuccinelli’s stances on these issues as harmful to Virginia’s economy, pointing in particular to a large government contracting company Northrop Grumman Corporation, which employes more than 40,000 employees in the Washington, D.C. area.
“Northrup Grumman, which was about to move their national headquarters to Virginia — it was between Maryland and Virginia,” McAuliffe said. “Obviously their workers squeaked at that. And what happened? Governor Bob McDonnell had to interject himself and save that deal.”
Cuccinelli denied McAuliffe’s allegations.
“The Northrup Grumman charge is false, the soulless comment is offensively false,” Cuccinelli said. “The kind of personal attacks that Terry opened up his remarks with today by saying this has been going on –this is coming from Terry McAuliffe?”
“I mean you all are seeing the ads, it’s overwhelmingly negative. It is unbelievably false. And no one up here, has done more to protect women which is a focus of his attacks, then I have,” Cuccinelli hit back.
Cuccinelli explained that while in college, after a friend was sexually assaulted, his response was to start an organization Sexual Assault Facts and Education (SAFE), designed to raise awareness about sexual assault on campus.
“We run multiple domestic violence programs in the attorney general’s office and we started from scratch fighting human trafficking and we’ve done a great job of it,” Cuccinelli said.
Cuccinelli and McAullife both used their time to pivot away from questions and reiterate points of attack they have been making throughout the campaign. McAulliffe tried to paint Cuccinelli as an extremist and Cuccinelli worked to portray McAuliffe as a politician prone to questionable business practices. McAuliffe argued that Cuccinelli’s conservatism on social issues spilled over into harming the economy while Cuccinelli attacked the McAuliffe on supporting a Medicaid expansion and having an “F” rating from the National Rifle Association.
When the discussion did move to more national topics, like funding the federal government, both candidates were vague. Cuccinelli demurred on whether he supports Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) push to only fund the government if Obamacare is defunded, instead shaping his answer around criticizing McAuliffe for supporting the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
Host Chuck Todd asked McAuliffe whether he felt President Barack Obama has made the right decisions on handling the budget.
“Now I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on in Washington,” McAuliffe said. “I would say pox on everyone’s house. It’s not working. It’s just not working as it is today. Sequestration should never — these issues that we have going on. It was supposed to be so onerous that it would never happen. Well it’s now happening. And these things should never be used as bargaining chips for our budget. So, until they get it resolved I say shame on everybody. “
