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Cuccinelli touts record, slams McAuliffe in half-hour infomercial [1]
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Date: 2022-09
Ken Cuccinelli makes a pitch to voters in an unpolished 28-minute television ad meant to underscore his core argument for election: He has the know-how to be governor, unlike Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe.
The taped infomercial positions the Republican candidate at a podium, two television monitors to his rear and a small studio audience in front listening to a version of his stump speech familiar to those tracking the campaign.
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From health care to education and economic policy, declares Cuccinelli, the election comes down to a choice of two futures, one toward middle class prosperity, the other a course to despair brought on by an out of control government.
"I represent one path," he says in the choppily-edited video. "The other is the one that Terry McAuliffe would take the state down."
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Cuccinelli tells viewers they can chart the road he's traveled as a state senator and now as attorney general and the policies he's pursued based "on well-defined principles."
"I will fight for you and I will always, always be honest with you," he assures his audience, telling them McAuliffe is "harder to nail down."
"He tells every audience what they want to here," Cuccinelli adds. "And a vote for him is an invitation to bring Washington wheeling and dealing to Richmond. You know, because it's worked so well in Washington, D.C., why not import it into Virginia?"
The infomercial meant to play up Cuccinelli's command of issues arrives as McAuliffe muddles through a difficult campaign stretch.
This week, he publicly denied knowledge of his supporters trying to hijack a Cuccinelli endorsement by a Northern Virginia Technology Council board underwhelmed by McAuliffe, then walked back claims he wouldn't sign a state budget without a Medicaid expansion provision.
Meanwhile, Cuccinelli, not long removed from tough questions about whether his campaign was foundering, got some wind at his back after a new poll showed him in a tighter race with McAuliffe than a series of previous surveys that had him trailing.
A disclaimer on the Republican's limited run infomercial lists its sponsors as his campaign and the Manassas-based American Target Advertising Inc. group led by conservative operative Richard Viguerie. It also directs viewers to the FightingforVirginia.org web site.
Media reservation data indicates it first aired Thursday morning on Norfolk's WTVZ, will run on that station again tomorrow morning, then once in Roanoke and twice in Richmond over the next few days during non-peak hours.
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McAuliffe's campaign predicted the infomercial will do little to alter opinions about Cuccinelli, calling it a gimmick that won't "change the fact that more than half of Virginians have a negative opinion of Cuccinelli, thanks in part to his career record of putting his divisive ideological agenda first."
UPDATE: Also Thursday, Cuccinelli and McAuliffe separately released standard-length campaign ads attacking each other.
Cuccinelli's focuses on why the Northern Virginia Technology Council endorsed him over McAuliffe.
McAuliffe's centers on his oft-repeated criticism of Cuccinelli's questionable role in a complex lawsuit over natural gas royalties between energy companies -- including one that's given $111,000 to his campaign -- and Southwest Virginia landowners.
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[1] Url:
https://www.pilotonline.com/news/columns/article_77ce83f5-940e-5efd-b852-52d4bdbd4c00.html
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