Perriello won’t run for governor, endorses McAuliffe
Former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello said today that he won’t run for governor next year, but will back fellow Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the 2013 election.
Perriello represented the 5th Congressional District for one term before losing his 2010 re-election bid, and has cultivated strong grassroots support in his party. He considered making a run for statewide office before announcing today that he won’t be candidate next year.
“I won’t be on the ballot in 2013, but I will be in the fight,” Perriello wrote on Twitter.
In a statement posted on the Blue Virginia blog, Perriello said: “I love Virginia, the state that gave my father a chance to move into the middle class after graduating from the University of Virginia, and am confident that we will not turn back. In this spirit, I have considered a run for Governor, and am genuinely touched by the outpouring of support. I do not feel called to serve in elected office at this time, but I do not need to have my name on the ballot to be part of the fight.”
Perriello’s decision appears to leave McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee Chairman, with a clear path to the party’s gubernatorial nomination. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a former governor, had considered running for his old job before announcing last month that he will remain in the Senate.
“Throughout his life in public service, Tom Perriello has been a courageous and principled fighter for progressive values and one of our party’s best spokesmen on issues of economic fairness,” McAuliffe said. “Virginia is extremely lucky to have a leader of Tom’s character and conviction and I look forward to working with him on mainstream solutions for job creation and common sense fiscal responsibility.”
Perriello, who lives in Albemarle County, defeated Republican incumbent Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount in 2008 to win the 5th District seat. But he lost two years later to Republican Robert Hurt of Chatham. Perriello is now the president and CEO of the liberal advocacy organization Center for American Progress Action.
– Michael Sluss
December 5, 2012 - 2:33 PM
I don’t blame him. If you can’t beat Hurt then beating Super Cooch is really out of the question.
Better to let carpetbagger McAuliffe be the sacrificial lamb.
As opposed to carpetbagged Cuccinelli? Following carpetbagger McDonnell?
Whoa hold on there Bob. Do remember that Perriello vs Hurt in 2010 was for a congressional district that is made up of overwhelmingly Republican area (Southern VA. ahem.).
He would have had a clear shot at statewide because you would be including NOVA/Fairfax/Prince William area – which the Republicans clearly lost a month ago (remember?). The Cooch will flounder up there in NOVA and the only way the Cooch may have a chance is if he can drive up the southern votes…like a lot. and I don’t see that happening…
Perriello has never won statewide. Never won without Obama on the ballot. Nova counties, Prince William and Loudon, while they did go for Obama, both went decisively for McDonnell in ’09. Pretty simple strategy for the Republicans. You want the Commonwealth to set up an Obamacare exchange? Vote Democrat.
SJ,
Then please explain how republican Virgil Goode ever lost this “republican district” to Periello in the first place.
That flies in the face of your logic…..
BTW, SJ,
This seat was held by Dan Daniel (who was a democrat) for like 20 years, and then was won by Virgil Goode (as a democrat) and then Goode changed parties and continued to be re-elected as a republican until Periello came along.
How much do you really know about the district?
#3 Bob H sort so forgets these things. Sometimes he even forgets where he is.
Goode lost to Perriello because:
1. Goode is a troglodyte
2. Perriello ran a great race
3. Obama tide helped
4 race was close
Perriello lost to Hurt due to tea party tide but still ran a close race ina republican leaning district. His strength in the fifth added to strong dem votes in Nova, tidewater, and richmond suburbs would have made him a stroing candidate against the ultrright cooch. Am
nd Mccauliffe will beat him for the same reasons plus he will have a ton of money and Bill Clinton.
Dave,
I noticed how Clinton’s help really made a difference in for McAuliffe in 2009 primary…..
When exactly did Clinton carry Virginia? Did I miss something?
McAuliffe debating Super Cooch will be like Elmer Fudd vs. Albert Einstein. Plus McAuliffe is a zillionaire (most of the rich are democrats).
But, the point is, Periello would have had little statewide support as is what Caldwell Butler discovered when he entertained notions of running for governor after retiring from the 6th years ago.
And besides that, he has chickened out which is a nice way of saying even he thought he had no chance to win…..
The 5th is republican leaning? Really? Since 1968 Robert Hurt is the first elected republican to win that seat (note: Goode was RE-elected as a republican).
How do you define republican leaning? Obviously not from anything factual.
Do the names Dan Daniel or Lewis Payne mean anything to you? They were republicans?
Bob H, you have GOT to be kidding. Virgil Goode was Tea Party before the TEA Party existed. Daniel and LF Payne were also conservative Democrats. The 5th District is solidly conservative (D or R) now and has been for some time. Perriello was a fresh face, sincere, had a heck of a ground game AND Goode started to implode and become radical right wing that same year.
#9 Bob H, I’d be willing to place a sizable bet that Clinton would have won Virginia in 2008 or 2012. Things have changed.
Where to begin. All this from BobH
noticed how Clinton’s help really made a difference in for McAuliffe in 2009 primary…..
When exactly did Clinton carry Virginia? Did I miss something?
McAuliffe debating Super Cooch will be like Elmer Fudd vs. Albert Einstein. Plus McAuliffe is a zillionaire (most of the rich are democrats).
But, the point is, Periello would have had little statewide support as is what Caldwell Butler discovered when he entertained notions of running for governor after retiring from the 6th years ago.
And besides that, he has chickened out which is a nice way of saying even he thought he had no chance to win…..
Comment by Bob H — December 6, 2012 @ 3:21 pm
The 5th is republican leaning? Really? Since 1968 Robert Hurt is the first elected republican to win that seat (note: Goode was RE-elected as a republican).
How do you define republican leaning? Obviously not from anything factual.
Do the names Dan Daniel or Lewis Payne mean anything to you? They were republicans?
Comment by Bob H — December 6, 2012 @ 3:28 pm
First of all, Clinton didn’t heavily invlove himself in the primary in 2009. And Mccauliffe was just beginning to make a name for himself in Virginia and has basically been running ever since.
Second, you, like the rest of the GOP as was clearly evidenced in the 2012 elections, are clearly still living in the past. Dan Daniel today
would be one of those old southern Democrats who switched to the Rerpublican Party when it became the party of the southern regresswive, bigoted, race baiting, social consewrvatism, financed by the big bucks of the corporate world who are using it for a base.
Third, the demographics are changing rapidly and even the Ruchmond suburbs which were strongly conservative for many years are now becoming more like the progressive activists in Northern Va.
Fourth, the gratuitous assertion about “rich ” Democrats is laughable when you look at the money that was spent in Virginia in 2012 by the billionaire backed organizations like Crossroads GPS, American Crossroads, Americans for Prosperity, and Freedomworks.
Fifth. This sate is now at a point where statewide elections will be decided by the NOVA/Tidewater/Richmond Suburbs/ Charlottesville/ Harrisonburg/ and Roanoke City. In other weords the population centers
where demographic changes have eroded the power and influence of the good old boy network of the south.
Sixth– The fact that the Tea Party which rode to power on a campaign of fiscal conservatism allowed its agenda to be hijacked by the social conservatives who pushe a radical agenda that has lost them any possibility of carrying the majority of women in this state (or any other)
has torpedoed their influence among any but the conspiracy theorists who rag on endlessley about the UN and the evangelicals with their social agenda. That will be an albatross around Cuccinelli’s neck in 2013. And
despie what you contend, both Mccauliffe and Perriello, if he had been the candidate, come off as very personable and can handle themselves in any debate with Cuccinelli whose radicalism will be exposed.
The Democrats are no longer the paqrty of Dan Daniels. And the Republicans are no longer Linwood Holton, Jophn Dalton, or Caldwell Butler.. They are the party of a failed confederacy, a bunch of billionaires, and the extreme religious right.
Its time to bring your thinking into the present and recognize change.
Virginians did in 2012.
Change Dave, really?
How long ago was it that the constitutional amendment on gay marriage passed overwhelmingly in this state (you remember, the one that candidate for Governor Kaine said he would sign but then Governor Kaine refused to sign)?
The facts are that Periello snuck into the election in 2008 because Virgil Goode didn’t take his candidacy seriously in 2008 until way too late to stem the tide and Periello won by a handful of votes (which happened to be cast in Charlottesville, that conservative nucleus of the republican leaning 5th district).
Clinton will help McAuliffe with one thing, and one thing only. FUNDRAISING. Which, McAuliffe scarcely needs given the size of his bank account. McAuliffe is a very wealthy man.
The facts are that the richest memebrs of congress are DEMOCRATS. Overwhelmingly so. 7 of the top 10 are DEMOCRATS. http://www.rollcall.com/50richest/the-50-richest-members-of-congress-112th.html
Maybe you Dave need to get into the times that exist today?
I must have missed something in the 2012 elections for sure because EVERY house seat was up for grabs and yet the house in still in republican hands. How do you explain that?
Bring on McAuliffe. KC is ready.
BobH
Ever hear of gerrymander. Democrats nationwide got over a million more votes in house races than Republicans did. Democrats gained seats in the House and will gain more if the current nRepublican House doesn’t wake up
and smell the roses. Democrats gained seats in the Senate when Republicans expected to take contrtol. Obama beat Romney by over 4 million votes which was a wider margin than Bush enjoyed over Kerry in 2004. And just in case you didn’t notice, Clinton pulled in big crowds in camapoign stops for Obama in Virginia, and Virginia went blue. and the Tim Kaine you denigrate sent George Allen into oblivion. Change is here, whether you like it or not and Mccauliffe will likely eat Cuccinelli’s lunch.
Good move my Perriello..he didnt have a prayer.
Gerrymandering was invented by democrats Dave. They did it so badly in this state that a judge overturned some of their “districts”.
Democrats in this state wouldn’t even allow proportional representation on committees to the minority party. It took republicans to be elected to be the majority and Morgan Griffith as a leader to change that practice.
But, I get your point. The blame game seems to work better for democrats rather than having any specific agenda to run on. Might as well blame gerrymandering for the republicans keeping the house instead of looking at the candidates that were fielded or their agendas.
Please, keep doing it.
And Dave, you really should do more research on the facts rather than parroting what Dan Radmacher spouts over on Casey’s BLOG.
That 1 million votes more that democrats got running for the house than republicans got? Well, it boils down to EIGHT (yeah, that’s right 8) races in CALIFORNIA that were won overwhelmingly by democrats against token opposition.
Here are the facts Dave:
District 2 won by a democrat by 120,800 votes
District 5 won by a democrat by 120,734 votes
District 6 won by a democrat by 107,261 votes
District 11 won by a democrat by 113,607 votes
District 12 won by a democrat by 209,231 votes
District 13 won by a democrat by 212,290 votes
District 14 won by a democrat by 149,372 votes
District 17 won by a democrat by 102,056 votes
Add then up Dave. 1,028,090 vote cushion. THERE is your 1 million votes that democrats got more than republicans. Does that mean that nationwide democrats were more popular than republicans just because 8 districts in California were overwhelmingly won by democrats?
Pop goes the bubble on that myth.
Bob H, what are you talking about “Democrats in this state wouldn’t even allow proportional representation on committees to the minority party“?
“Democrats urged Republicans to share power, as the parties did beginning in 1996, the last time there was Senate parity.
But Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City County, reminded colleagues that accord was reached because of the political dynamics at the time, not good will on the part of Democrats.
And he defended his party’s organizational plan, saying “it is not a power grab,” but rather “a rearticulation of the Senate rules that we, on this side, think are appropriate.”
Bolling broke several ties Wednesday – first to reject Democrats’ power-sharing plan, then to approve a Republican rewriting of the chamber’s rules, and finally on GOP committee assignments.
Particularly troubling to Democrats was removal of language that called for proportional representation on the Senate’s committees that function as gatekeepers in the lawmaking process.”
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/01/lawmakers-skip-firstday-jitters-go-right-jabs
Where is this change you spoke of?
Bob H, that is not the million votes anyone is discussing. That is the norm.
“In Pennsylvania, Democratic House candidates outpolled Republicans by 2.7 million to 2.6 million votes, but the Republicans got 13 House seats to just five for Democrats. In Michigan, Democrats outpolled Republicans by 2.3 million to 2.1 million, yet Republicans won nine seats to five for Democrats. In North Carolina, Democrats won 2.2 million popular votes to 2.1 million for Republicans, but the Republicans have won nine seats to three for Democrats, and one race is deadlocked in a recount. In Wisconsin, Democrats had an edge of 43,000 votes, but Republicans won a five-to-four seat advantage. In these four states, a more accurate reflection of the popular-vote percentages would have given the Democrats 11 more seats and Republicans 11 fewer—a big swing.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/08/fiscal-cliff-is-latest-symptom-of-unfair-redistricting.html
It happens both ways and gerrymandering has a lot to do with why.
Sandi,
Search the RTEB blogs on that. They had to swallow hard and praise Griffith for taking the action he did.
On the other, I was referring to Dave’s post that democrats got 1 million more votes than republicans for the house. It wasn’t hard to find out why.
Democrats never seem to be responsible for anything are they Sandi? They don’t have the house because of gerrymandering. The Libyan ambassador died because of republicans. Obama has lobbyists in his admin because of republicans……
Here is a link for you Sandi. I know how hard it is for you to look for anything negative when it comes to democrats.
http://blogs.roanoke.com/roundtable/2009/11/proportional-committees-in-the-house-of-delegates/
#22 Ah, Bob H, thanks for the link. Good to see that I was taking you to task for your blind, one-sided criticism of the RT even back in 2009.
Yes Bob H, the quote from my link quoted Norment alluding to that Dem “abuse”. Is that the excuse for the TP/R’s doing so now? We “did it first” back in the 90′s? Unless of course you still have not noticed my link is from 2012 and yours is from 2009.
BTW, not sure what Griffith did, I thought it was Virgil Goode who demanded that sharing.
“After the 1995 elections resulted in a 20–20 split between Democrats and Republicans in the State Senate, Goode seriously considered voting with the Republicans on organizing the chamber. Had he done so, the State Senate would have been under Republican control for the first time since Reconstruction (the Republicans ultimately won control outright in 1999). Goode’s actions at the time “forced his party to share power with Republican lawmakers in the state legislature,” which further upset the Democratic Party.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Goode
Regardless the TP/R and their infamous “Bolling” vote chose not to share, or are you denying that truth too?
And would you, or any other TP/R voter care to share with us what exactly the TP/R’s have been responsible for? Anything? 9/11 because of republicans? Iraq War because of republicans? Torture because of republicans? Abu Ghraib because of republicans? Rendition because of republicans? Patriot Act because of republicans? Ten trillion of the debt because of republicans?
They do have the house because of gerrymandering and safe districts drawn for that purpose.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/08/fiscal-cliff-is-latest-symptom-of-unfair-redistricting.html
Sorry, wrong link!
http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/redistricting_and_congressional_control_following_the_2012_election/
BobH @!8:45
So what. 8 districts in California gave over a million more votes to democrats. Un the Rednec states of Mississippi and Tennessee check these ten districts:
Mississippi first Rep 186769 Dem 114676
third Rep. 234717 No Dem
fourth Rep. 182988 DEM 82344
Tennessee first 180192 47815
second 196738 54742
third 157745 91039
fourth 128000 102000
sixth 184312 34729
seventh 182567 61599
eighth 190831 79443
totals 1,825,250 668387
difference 1156863
That’s almost 1.2 million votes. The same story could be told in Alabama and Louisiana and South Carolina and Georgia, and Arkansas and throughout the old confederacy. Nothing about that changes the fact that democratrs got over 1 million more votes for the House of Representatives but have 202 seats 233 for the Republicans. Your math bubble can be blown away too.
Dave,
I do not feel like the good people of Mississippi should be painted with a broad brush as you have done in your post. Liberalism knows no shame.
Your 1 million votes argument means nothing. Democrats lost the house for fielding candidates like Andy Schmookler (who the liberal RTEB would not even endorse), John Douglass, and Anthony Flaccavento.
I guess next that you are going to try to tell me the 9th is a conservative district also? Denial is not just a river in Egypt.
BobH
And your post about the eight districts in California was not meant to imply that those crazies in california can’t be relied on to reflect the views of the rest of the country? You attepted to say the only reason
Democrats got a million more votes in HR elections was because of a handful of districts in California. I just showed you that the margin could have been even greater except for a handful of districts in the south.
What makes those districts in Mississippi and Tenn. more valuable than the ones in California?” You still don’t address the point, that despite one million more votes, democrats got 32 fewer seats becasuse of the way districts were gerrymandered in states where Republicans controlled legislatures.
“Un the Rednec states of Mississippi and Tennessee”
I dont think anyone who lives in “biglick” has any room to call others redneck.