Health & Fitness

Washington Post Endorsement Shows Terry McAuliffe's Challenge

Paper's preference means nothing if the Democrat can't get voters to the polls.

Have something you want to say about the 2013 elections? Share it on the Patch blog! Check out the blog or post now (you need to be logged in to your Patch account).

The campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, of course, was overjoyed to get the The Washington Post endorsement late Saturday. 

But the text read more like an anti-endorsement of Republican Ken Cuccinelli, and is indicative of the challenge that McAuliffe faces on Election Day: turnout.

Suggesting that Prince William County turnout may indicate who wins in November, Washington Post GovBeat columnist Reid Wilson noted in August that McAuliffe's challenge seems to be getting voters to the polls.

"If McAuliffe can persuade those occasional Democratic voters to turn out, he’ll have a big advantage, both in Prince William and statewide," Wilson wrote. "Broadly speaking, higher turnout is better for McAuliffe; the question, of course, is which voters actually head to the polls."

That brings us to this weekend's endorsement from the editorial board, which opens with one of the stronger pronouncements I've read that there isn't a great choice, but you've got to pick somebody.

"Given the doubts their own parties’ activists have voiced about Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat, and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, the Republican, how are the rest of us supposed to feel?"

The endorsement does get around to the endorsing, between several jabs at Cuccinelli and his long history of conservative causes. But not before resolving that all voters need to get off the couch on Election Day.

The editorial reads, "Still, pining for different candidates is a waste of time, and staying home on Election Day is irresponsible."

Irresponsible, but unfortunately inevitable. As Wilson pointed out: "When Virginia elected Doug Wilder in 1989, 66.5 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls. Turnout has declined every four years after that; in 2009 just 40.4 percent of registered voters cast a ballot."

No less than MSNBC's Rachel Maddow sounded the alarm last week (above) that Virginia's gubernatorial election may turn on a few thousand votes.

So, the Post's caveats have us wondering wether a lack of enthusiasm will play a larger role in this race than newspaper endorsements.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below!


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here