NOVEMBER 18, 2008
-
Read Later
READ LATERAvailable only to subscribers. SUBSCRIBE TODAY
-
Listen
ARTICLE AUDIO
- Font Size
No, not McCain, who apparently brushed into this morning's Senate Republicans meeting with nary a word for his once-beloved press scrum. Terry McAuliffe,the Clintons' famed moneyman, wants to bring the Team Hillary touch to Virginia:
The brassy 51-year-old Syracuse, N.Y., native is preparing to run for
governor of Virginia in 2009, a bid that will start with a
Hillary-esque 60-day listening tour of the Old Dominion.Potential opponents dismiss him as a cynical Daddy Warbucks who has
long plotted to buy himself a governorship — claiming he even mulled
runs in his native New York and Florida, where his wife’s family lives.McAuliffe’s pals dismiss such criticism and say his unique blend of charm and cash will prove irresistible.
“Terry could sell shit to the zoo,” explains longtime pal Paul Begala. “He’s the best salesman in the world.”
--Eve Fairbanks
5 comments
I hope McAuliffe runs, and gets beaten like a rented mule. I would pay top dollar to watch him crash and burn in spectacular fashion. I hope he takes Penn on as his campaign manager, as we would then get a two-for-one destruction, hell, throw in Lanny Davis as well. When flushing out the toxins of the party, best to get them all at once. Hacks. Knaves.
Oh, yes. Run, Terry, Run. Then sink under the horrifying weight of your own hubris. Watch as the electorate discards you like the trash you are, and then mocks your loss. They will pelt you with rotting vegetables at your concession speech. They will laugh at your misery. They will call you in the middle of the night taunting you, continually reopening the wound and pouring in as much salt as they can find. Cato the Elder would be shocked by their gleeful willingness to finish you off.
McAuliffe delenda est, indeed.
- kgrant1054
November 18, 2008 at 1:18pm
I...um...don't have the enthusiastic pre-schadenfruede that kgrant does, but I do hope someone can step in and knock McAuliffe's block off.
Right now, my state has a democratic governor, two democratic senators, and just went blue in the Presidential race. I think the odds are good that that will only hold true through 2009, and McAuliffe wandering into town and declaring himself a candidate isn't helping my confidence any. Begala's dry wit aside, McAuliffe has always appeared to have to have the same level of poise and charisma as our dear 43rd President, and I think my opinion of the former is more widely shared.
- janus
November 18, 2008 at 1:55pm
The best salesman in the world, huh? I'm sure President Hillary Clinton would agree.
As a Virginian, I hope McAufliffe crashes and burns.
- ackyri
November 18, 2008 at 3:17pm
Here's what the McAuliffe candidacy really says to Virginians:
"Hey! Virginians! Remember why you stopped voting for Democrats before Mark Warner came along? No? Well, let me remind you. Even better, let me travel to every county in the commonwealth and remind you in person, on your local TV station and in your weekly town newspaper exactly why you stopped voting for Democrats twenty years ago. Because it looks to me like you've forgotten why you started voting against Democrats."
I can only assume that close personal friends of George Allen have put up the money for McAuliffe's run. And the really bad news is that Republicans have already settled on one candidate for governor, so Republican voters will be free to make mischief by voting for McAuliffe in the open Democratic primary. With the good Moran brother and Deeds likely to split the votes of actual Democrats, McAuliffe is in a very good position to win a plurality, secure the nomination, and destroy the Virginia Democratic Party.
- rhubarbs
November 18, 2008 at 4:21pm
This should be fun. That guy was a riot during the primaries, the supreme champion gold medal grandmaster of crazy, and in a very crowded field.
- psantillana
November 18, 2008 at 6:08pm