WASHINGTON — Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s closer-than-expected win over Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor’s race has some conservative Republicans blaming the party’s mainstream powerbrokers for a missed opportunity — and wishing Cuccinelli had shifted to a full assault on ObamaCare sooner.
McAuliffe won by only 3 percentage points, after some early polls had him up by double digits.
The Democrat’s troubles late in the campaign prompted Cuccinelli to play up the failed rollout of ObamaCare — a tactic that may have narrowed the gap.
“This race came down to the wire because of ObamaCare,” Cuccinelli said in his concession speech.
Exit polls showed that a majority of voters opposed the law.
“The GOP establishment, rather than come to the aid of Cuccinelli, left him out hanging. Just think what would have happened if the business and donor classes of the Republican Party would have helped,” fumed Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots.
The New York-born McAuliffe, a close pal of former President Bill Clinton, defeated Cuccinelli, who opposes abortion and gay marriage, in a nasty political fight fought out on Virginia’s airwaves.