Delegates urged to attend meeting

By: Tyler Whitley | Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: May 11, 2009

State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli of Fairfax County, seeking the Republican nomination for attorney general, is offering free bus rides to Richmond from nine Virginia localities and has reserved a block of hotel rooms at the new Hilton Garden Hotel.

Republicans are nominating their statewide candidates at a convention May 30, and the down-ticket contests for attorney general and lieutenant governor hinge on who will show up.

So, like Cuccinelli, his opponents, former U.S. Attorney John Brownlee of Roanoke and former Arlington County School Board member Dave Foster are telephoning delegates, sending them direct mail and doing what they can to persuade them to come to Richmond.

More than 10,000 Republicans have signed up as delegates, and the convention site has been moved from the Richmond Convention Center to the Coliseum, but GOP officials expect the turnout to be less.

Delegates also will nominate a candidate for lieutenant governor. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who is seeking a second term, and Patrick Muldoon, a lawyer from Fairfax County, are seeking the nomination. Bob McDonnell is unopposed for the gubernatorial nomination.

Political analysts say Bolling, better known after four years as lieutenant governor and running in tandem with McDonnell, is considered a strong favorite to win on the first ballot.

Cuccinelli, with greater name recognition because of his service in the Virginia Senate, is considered the front-runner for the attorney general nomination, although not as strongly.

But Republican conventions are unpredictable affairs. Last year, former Gov. Jim Gilmore was a strong favorite to win the nomination to run for the U.S. Senate, but many of his supporters failed to show up and he barely eked out a victory over Del. Robert G. Marshall of Prince William County.

And Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick, also of Prince William, upset former Lt. Gov. John H. Hager for party chairman, a victory that is still roiling GOP waters.

Party leaders fired Frederick last month. Now two veteran Republicans, Pat Mullins of Louisa County and Bill Stanley of Franklin County, are vying for chairman and trying to attract delegates to the convention, adding another dose of uncertainty to the mix.

Brownlee, Foster and Muldoon dispute claims that they are trailing in the down-ticket nomination contests.

Brownlee, who said he is running strongly in Southwest Virginia and Southside Virginia, expects to cut into Cuccinelli's margins in Fairfax because he grew up there and to do well in Hampton Roads because he is a veteran.

"I am running as a strong conservative who is the only former prosecutor, the only veteran running," he said.

Foster, running as "a common-sense conservative," said he has proved he can win in Democrat-leaning Arlington, where he was elected to the School Board twice, so he would balance the GOP ticket better.

Foster is a business litigator with the Washington law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski.

Brownlee was appointed by President George W. Bush as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia in 2001 and served until last year.

Cuccinelli said he has been elected three times in a Democratic-leaning Fairfax district that Bolling, 2005 gubernatorial nominee Jerry Kilgore and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain lost, so he knows how to win.

"I did so without sacrificing my conservative principles and while being outspent each time," he said.

Muldoon, who has residences in Fairfax and his native Giles County, is running to the right of Bolling.

He acknowledged he got off to a late start in the race for the lieutenant governor nomination but said "our campaign has caught fire." He is counting on the same anti-establishment, conservative mood that helped elect Frederick GOP chairman last year.

Randy Marcus, an aide to Bolling, said: "We are very confident. We have the support of every [Republican] member of the Senate and House of Delegates and the party leaders."

"We take this race seriously," he added. "We have to make sure our supporters get to the convention."

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.