Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, New York magazine's John Heilemann described Virginia GOP gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli as a "horrible candidate" as he cautioned Democrats that Cuccinelli still might have triumphed over Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe if the Virginia Republican had had more money and if the government shutdown had not occurred. Heilemann began his analysis:
If I were a Democrat, I would not be taking a lot of encouragement out of this race. Look, you've got Ken Cuccinelli who, as bad as candidate as Terry McAuliffe was, Ken Cuccinelli, as everyone has said here, fundamentally out of step with a lot of the state, a horrible candidate.
After noting that Cuccinelli was outspent 4-1, Heilemann added:
If there had been late spending for Cuccinelli, or if there hadn't been a government shutdown, right, which is not Ken Cuccinelli's fault, if there hadn't been, you think of the northern Virginia vote, where there are a huge number of huge number of government workers in northern Virginia, where Terry McAuliffe found his margin of victory.
If there hadn't been for the shutdown, Ken Cuccinelli might have won this race also for all of his problems, a little bit more money, and a little bit less government shutdown, you might be looking at Ken Cuccinelli as bad as he was, and as out of step with so much of Virginia, he probably would be in the statehouse.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Tuesday, November 5, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC:
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: John Heilemann, on the Virginia race, should Democrats be taking a lot of encouragement out of this race? I mean, here's Krystal saying, "Look, if they had just nominated, the Republicans just nominated the right guy, the Republicans would have won."
JOHN HEILEMANN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: If I were a Democrat, I would not be taking a lot of encouragement out of this race. Look, you've got Ken Cuccinelli who, as bad as candidate as Terry McAuliffe was-
O'DONNELL: Oh, yeah.
HEILEMANN: -Ken Cuccinelli, as everyone has said here, fundamentally out of step with a lot of the state, a horrible candidate. But he was, still, what these results show tonight is that-
KRYSTAL BALL, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: He was better than their lieutenant governor candidate, we should say.
HEILEMANN: -he got outspent 4-1 in the race.
O'DONNELL: Yeah.
HEILEMANN: If there had been late spending for Cuccinelli, or if there hadn't been a government shutdown, right, which is not Ken Cuccinelli's fault, if there hadn't been, you think of the northern Virginia vote, where there are a huge number of-
O'DONNELL: Chris Christie is taking, go ahead, keep talking.
HEILEMANN: -huge number of government workers in northern Virginia, where Terry McAuliffe found his margin of victory, if there hadn't been for the shutdown, Ken Cuccinelli might have won this race also for all of his problems, a little bit more money, and a little bit less government shutdown, you might be looking at Ken Cuccinelli as bad as he was, and as out of step with so much of Virginia, he probably would be in the statehouse.