Bill Mims, Virginia’s attorney general and a confidant of Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell, has a new job—he’s joining the regulatory and lobbying practice of a big Richmond law firm, Hunton and Williams. Mims, a former delegate and state senator who succeeded McDonnell as attorney general and helps lead the McDonnell gubernatorial transition, had been mentioned as a possible chief of staff or counsel to the next Republican chief executive.

Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli is looking to predecessors from both parties for guidance on running the state’s law office, as well as enlisting the lawyer who beat Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell in court on a transportation fix that was ruled unconstitutional. Cuccinelli, a Republican, announced yesterday that he selected as transition leaders former Attorneys General Andrew P. Miller, a Democrat; Republican Richard Cullen; and ex-state GOP Chairman Patrick M. McSweeney.

Virginia has elected Republican Ken Cuccinelli as its next attorney general, overwhelmingly favoring the state senator from Fairfax County who has pledged to protect the Virginia Constitution and the state’s right-to-work law. As polls had predicted, Cuccinelli won a crushing defeat over his Democratic opponent—and friend—Del. Stephen C. Shannon of Fairfax.

Q. What’s on the ballot?
  A. Voters statewide will elect a governor, a lieutenant governor and an attorney general. All 100 House of Delegates seats are up for election, but only 69 are contested. State senators are not on the ballot until 2011.
  Q. What else is on the ballot?
  A. It varies by locality. Part of Richmond will select a City Council member in the 7th District. Hopewell will elect a commonwealth’s attorney; Petersburg will elect a sheriff; Colonial Heights will elect a commissioner of the revenue.

Candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general struggle for attention in a scene dominated by the gubernatorial race. The down-ticket nominees run as members of a team yet manage their own campaigns. The frustration is compounded by the point that neither the lieutenant governor nor the attorney general ought to be subject to direct popular vote.

Attorney general hopeful Ken Cuccinelli stepped offstage last week after a particularly heated debate with rival Stephen C. Shannon and quipped that people never would believe they are friends. They do get along and in some respects have moved in similar circles. Both attended Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. Both attended the University of Virginia, though years apart.

Cuccinelli Shannon The final debate in the campaign for attorney general took on racial overtones yesterday as Democrat Stephen C. Shannon accused Republican Ken Cuccinelli of being “an ideological crusader” who favors states’ rights. Shannon, a delegate from Fairfax County, likened it to an agenda that produced some of Virginia’s worst movements, such as secession and the fight to maintain segregation.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain are coming to Virginia to help their parties’ candidates for governor. The Democratic vice president will help R. Creigh Deeds at a private fundraiser in Alexandria tomorrow. McCain, a Republican U.S. senator from Arizona, will help rally veterans to support Bob McDonnell at an Oct. 17 rally in Hampton Roads, which has a large population of veterans.

Virginia’s undercard races do not receive much attention, which is too bad. Although the office of lieutenant governor is rarely consequential (as we noted in a recent editorial), many lieutenant governors do go on to run for governor. So do many attorneys general. There is a case to be made for the candidates of each party running as a ticket. (In the AG’s case, there also is a case to be made for gubernatorial appointment rather than general election.) This year the GOP seems to be running a more unified campaign than the Democrats. Bob McDonnell has held joint appearances and rolled out joint policy proposals with both Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and AG candidate Ken Cuccinelli. The Democrats have done little of that sort of thing. Creigh Deeds, Jody Wagner, and Steve Shannon might be coordinating their efforts behind the scenes, but to all public appearances one would think none of them had ever heard of the other two.

Democratic Attorney General candidate Stephen C. Shannon said yesterday that if he is elected he will go to court personally to prosecute Internet child predators. Shannon said this will raise public awareness of the crimes. Shannon, who was an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Fairfax County before being elected to the House of Delegates in 2004, said he will increase the number of individuals in the attorney general’s computer-crimes unit who focus on Internet crimes against children.

The Kaine administration’s quick fix for guiding the troubled Virginia information technology agency - allowing the secretary of technology to simultaneously serve as interim computer czar - is illegal, the attorney general ruled yesterday. William C. Mims, the state’s top lawyer, said the dual roles for Leonard M. “Len” Pomata violate a law that separates the jobs of technology secretary and chief information officer in order to shield the CIO from politics.

The two men vying to become the state’s top lawyer rolled out public safety proposals to an audience of police chiefs yesterday. People convicted once of driving under the influence would have an ignition interlock added to their cars, and people convicted twice would have their vehicle impounded under a plan presented by the Democratic nominee for attorney general, Del. Stephen C. Shannon.

The latest survey by Public Policy Polling shows Republican Bob McDonnell has the support of 49 percent of those polled, and Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has 43 percent, in the race for governor. The result follows polling right after the June 9 Democratic primary that showed Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, with an edge over McDonnell.

To many Virginia voters, the Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general may seem like the obscure celebrities who appeared in those old credit-card commercials, uttering the line: “Do you know me?“ Mike Signer and Jody Wagner may not be household names. But both want to be the party’s nominee for the No. 2 job in Virginia.

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.