In Virginia, the GOP pulled the plug on a die-hard gun rights advocate

Guest post by Gun Owners of America

Well, the results from Tuesday’s high-profile gubernatorial elections are in.

A moderate-to-liberal gun control advocate (Chris Christie) won in New Jersey, while a die-hard pro-gun advocate (Ken Cuccinelli) barely lost in Virginia.

Cuccinelli lost a squeaker (48.0 to 45.5 percent), even though he was outspent 4-1 by his anti-gun Democrat opponent, Terry McAuliffe, who was able to blast $15 million more dollars into the state for advertising.

Gun-grabbing advocate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, also pumped in more than a million dollars into the race.

So how did the national GOP counter? Well, according to The Washington Times, “The Republican National Committee spent six million dollars less this year than it did in 2009 [for Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell]. Cuccinelli was outspent three to one during most of the campaign and as much as ten to one in the closing days.”

During the last two weeks of the race, the Cuccinelli ad campaign went “dark,” as they were unable to answer the vicious lies and attack ads that were filling the northern Virginia airwaves.

Conservatives in Virginia are furious. Says The Washington Post: “The election loss [in Virginia] reignited anger among conservative Republicans who believe that the party’s moderate wing ... had not backed up their candidate with money or support.”

Indeed, gun owners wonder if the additional $6 million -- that was spent on Bob McDonnell four years ago -- would have helped get an additional three percent of the vote for Cuccinelli.

Sadly, while Republicans were holding back in their support of their candidate, the Democrats were funding a third party candidate to take votes away from Cuccinelli.

Libertarian Robert Sarvis received immense help from an Obama-fundraiser, Joe Liemandt, who helped Sarvis get on the ballot.

According to a report in The Blaze on the day of the election, “A major Democratic Party benefactor and Obama campaign bundler helped pay for professional petition circulators responsible for getting Virginia Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robert C. Sarvis on the ballot -- a move that could split conservative votes in a tight race.”

This Obama benefactor was the BIGGEST contributor to the Libertarian Booster Pac, and the Sarvis candidacy had the desired result -- as Cuccinelli fell short of McAuliffe by less than three percent. (Sarvis took six percent of the vote.)

Why didn’t Republicans adopt the same strategy? If a Green candidate had drawn votes away from McAuliffe -- the way Sarvis did for Cuccinelli -- then it would be the Republican candidate who would be the governor-elect today.

Bottom line: It appears that the national GOP, by sitting on its collective hands, views the enemy to be conservatives and Tea Party activists. They would rather have a Clinton fundraiser like Terry McAuliffe be governor of Virginia, rather than an accomplished public servant who brilliantly articulates Republican goals.

This is truly a travesty. It’s important that gun rights supporters ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY contact the Republican National Committee and voice their displeasure. Otherwise, we’ll see these same types of sellouts occurring everywhere in 2014.

ACTION: Please contact Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and let him know how disappointed you are that the national GOP would not get fully behind a solid, pro-gun conservative Republican. Tell him that he needs to quit if he’s not going to support real Republicans.

CONTACT:

You can contact RNC Chairman Reince Priebus at the contact form for the RNC: http://www.gop.com/contact-us

Or you can call the RNC at: 202-863-8500

NOTE: The contact form has a 1,000 character limit. The pre-written letter below is just barely under that limit.

----- Pre-written letter to Reince Priebus -----

I am very disappointed about your meager “support” for Ken Cuccinelli in VA./p>

It was reported in The Washington Times (11/6/13) that you slashed by 2/3 the support you gave to Cuccinelli, compared to the millions of dollars the RNC gave Bob McDonnell four years ago. That missing support -- $6 million total -- could have helped get an additional three percent of the vote (and the victory) for Cuccinelli.

The big issue of the campaign was the anti-gun ObamaCare law. Cuccinelli almost won the race by emphasizing what a disaster this horrible law is.

You have made it clear by sitting on your hands that you view the enemy to be conservatives and Tea Party activists. You would rather have a Clinton bagman be governor of VA rather than an accomplished public servant who brilliantly articulates Republican goals. Evidently those goals are not yours.

If you are not willing to support real Republicans, please go home. You are as useful as a bicycle for a fish.