Unlike his predecessors who stepped down as attorney general to run for the commonwealth’s top office, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has said he will continue to serve during his gubernatorial campaign.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, one of those who held the office before Cuccinelli and gave it up to run for governor, said that while every candidate is different and needs to make their own choices, he made the "painful" decision to step down because he felt "it was in the best interests of the people of Virginia to have a full-time attorney general."
He said the intense demands of running a gubernatorial campaign "preclude you from working full time as attorney general."
"It’s incredibly tough to run the state’s law firm and run for governor," McDonnell said.
But in an interview with the Associated Press, Cuccinelli pointed out that in most states attorney generals who decide to run for governor stay in office.
"We are the only state in the country that sees any strain of thought where people feel the need to take that step," Cuccinelli told the AP.
In addition to McDonnell, former Govs. Jim Gilmore, Mark Earley, Jerry Kilgore all left the attorney general’s office during their gubernatorial campaigns.
Cuccinelli’s decision to run for governor in 2013 is expected to create deep divisions within the GOP, which presumed Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who decided to fore go a bid for the top office in 2009 in a deal with McDonnell, to be the party’s nominee.
McDonnell reiterated his support for Bolling’s bid as he promised back in 2009.
"I told the lt. governor three and a half years ago, ‘Let’s work together as a team. Let’s run together as a team in 2009. And then if you want to run in 2013, I’ll be there to support you,’ " McDonnell said.
The governor, however, did bring up the point that the 2013 gubertorial elections are a long way off and the state has a difficult General Assembly session ahead of it in January.
"For the next 90 days I don’t want to hear anything about a campaign," McDonnell said. "I want to have people focused on what we need to do to improve the quality of life for Virginians, and fix the problems that we’ve got now."
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