Despite building buzz around a possible independent candidate in Virginia’s governor’s race, the current governor says he doesn’t think it will happen.
“Independent candidacies are very tough,” Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell told Chuck Todd on The Daily Rundown. “It makes good chatter in the press, but they almost never happen,”
Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) dropped a bid to succeed McDonnell late last year after Republican Attorney Gen. Ken Cuccinelli got into the race and the state party decided to select their nominee at a meeting of party leaders instead of through a primary with voters.
“[This] is completely up to the lieutenant governor, but I think we’ll have a Governor Cuccinelli in about eight months,” said McDonnell.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed the race in a dead heat between Cuccinelli and Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe, the former DNC chairman and close confidante of former President Bill Clinton. The two were tied at 38% in a one-on-one contest. If Bolling made it a three-way race, then McAuliffe leads at 34% with Cuccinelli at 31% and Bolling at 13%.
Xuan Thai