In the end, star power, big donors and bombast amounted to very little for Terry McAuliffe.
Former President Bill Clinton, an army of staffers and volunteers, and more than $7 million couldn’t convince Virginia Democrats to nominate the career political fundraiser for governor.
“There’s always a sense of skepticism about people who try to buy elections,” said George Mason University political science professor Stephen Farnsworth. “And arguments being made by the other two candidates against McAuliffe — as somebody who was trying to buy the love of Virginia — resonated with a significant number of voters.”
McAuliffe, who spent much of the primary campaign leading in polls, garnered only 84,000 votes out of 320,000 cast and won only a single congressional district out of 11.
The loss represents an epic collapse just a year after McAuliffe led Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign to defeat in the 2008 Democratic primary, which included losing Virginia.
In many ways, the stars could not have aligned worse for the first-time candidate. His lead in the polls deflated as the longtime laggard, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, mounted a rapid 11th-hour comeback to secure a blowout victory.
The attacks on McAuliffe were fast and unrelenting. Former Del. Brian Moran, McAuliffe’s second opponent, cast him as a career moneyman with a shady past and empty promises. The attacks didn’t help Moran, but they almost certainly hurt McAuliffe.
He ran a largely positive campaign, barnstorming Virginia pushing renewable energy and job creation. His inexhaustible style put his name in the news more than either of his opponents. He raised huge sums, though most of it from wealthy out-of-state donors, and enlisted celebrities like Bill Clinton and rapper will.i.am to aid his campaign.
But it seems that electability trumped all at the ballot box. The Republicans had already nominated former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, seen by both sides as a formidable candidate, and Deeds successfully marketed himself as the best man to beat McDonnell.
“Ultimately, McAuliffe may have been a victim of bad timing,” Farnsworth said. “Had the Republicans offered up a weaker nominee, he might have done better.”
