As I argued yesterday, the Washington Post is already at work with its spin operation to tar Virginia Republican gubernatorial contender Ken Cuccinelli as a right-wing radical in advance of the 2013 race. The spin operation continued apace, today on the front page of the paper's Metro section, where Richmond correspondent Laura Vozzella described for readers how Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling concluded that "the path to GOP nomination looked too steep" to venture.
In her 19-paragraph story November 30 story, Vozzella hailed Bolling as the "state's multi-tasker in chief" who "has been juggling the part-time job of Virginia lieutenant governor with running for governor and working as a private insurance man." But alas, Bolling, "who shares many of [Attorney General Ken] Cuccinelli's conservative views but has a more conciliatory style" was no match for the attorney general's forces, who "pulled off something of a coup" when they "[took] control of the Republican State Central Committee."
Firmly in control of the state's Republican committee, Vozzella noted, Cuccinelli backers "change[d] the nomination method... from a statewide primary to a convention," which "gave a huge boost to Cuccinelli, a tea party hero, because conventions tend to be dominated by conservative party activists."
The subtext is pretty clear: both Bolling and Cuccinelli are conservative, but Bolling is the more reasonable and bipartisan of the two, while Cuccinelli is a tea party favorite backed by rabble-rousing conservatives.
Yesterday I noted how Vozzella and her colleague Errin Haines sought to paint Cuccinelli as out there on the right but hail his likely Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe as a dealmaking businessman who could be "Mark Warner lite."
