Who will Terry McAuliffe answer to if we elect him? Not Virginia.

I’ve just reviewed a list of cities and counties where Terry McAuliffe has raised money for his gubernatorial run of Virginia. After looking at this list, it’s hard for me to believe that McAuliffe will care more about Virginia than his friends who don’t live here and can’t vote for him.

Undue Influence: How the richest among us will elect Virginia’s next Governor

This afternoon the folks at the Virginia Public Access Project released their analysis of the campaign contributions raised during the first quarter of the Virginia’s race for governor. The numbers underscore how the richest among us have the most influence in our political system. They also show how powerful out of state donors are in control of the campaign of Terry McAuliffe, in contrast to the other three candidates: Bob McDonnell, Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran.

Why Terry McAuliffe’s Fundraising Excesses are Problematic

OK, I get it. Terry McAuliffe’s supporters don’t like it when others criticize McAuliffe’s past as the Democratic Party’s fundraiser in chief. My message to them: deal with it.

The fact is that the nation’s campaign finance system is broken. Virginia, with no limits on campaign contributions, allows the very wealthy to have a bigger microphone than the rest of us. As a Democrat, that’s antithetical to everything I believe our party stands for. In my opinion, Virginia’s system is among the worst in the country.

But back to McAuliffe. To me he personifies what’s wrong with our government-up-for-auction political culture. It was not just his role as the go-to guy for the Clintons — see Lincoln bedroom auction, Chinese Temple auction, Mark Rich pardon auction, Hillary’s Senate and Presidential runs — but it’s also his approach in this governor’s campaign, too.

Hit and Run Journalism

This evening I watched with curiosity a few pro-Terry McAuliffe bloggers promote on Twitter two stories critical of Brian Moran’s fundraising in his gubernatorial campaign.  Both stories will be in tomorrow’s papers but are online tonight. They both highlight Moran’s political ties to his brother, Alexandria, Va. Congressman Jim Moran.

Terry McAuliffe’s Fundraising

NotLarrySabato posted this video on his site last night and promised some thoughts this morning. I’ll offer mine, too.

The reason voters hate lobbyists is they know elected officials give lobbyists access that a regular voter won’t ever hope to have. They also know that lobbyists pay for that access with campaign contributions that regular voters can’t ever afford to make. (In other countries, this practice is known as bribery.) Lastly, they know that elected officials seldom live up to the standards of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson who famously observed:

If you can’t drink a lobbyist’s whiskey, take his money, sleep with his women and still vote against him in the morning, you don’t belong in politics.