Another poll, this one from Quinnipiac, has Bill Bolling in the low teens in a possible three-way gubernatorial race with Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
That would seem to indicate that Bolling, a Republican and two-term lieutenant governor, wouldn’t be a viable candidate for governor if his standard was ability to win, not ability to make hay.
Or … his advisers could be saying, Bill, you’re at 13 percent, and people don’t even know that you’re running. Once they do, we could very well win this thing.
Either way, the decision is going to have to be made soon, and by soon the thinking is the next month or so, if that far out.
The sad fact for Bolling is that whatever decision is made will be made based on incomplete data at best.
Virginians, by and large, aren’t paying attention to the November elections. That’s part and parcel to being a Virginian. With odd-year state elections, and even-year federal elections, there’s an election literally every year here.
A few months following the most grueling presidential election cycle in American history, our heads are nowhere near the ballpark of elections right now.
It’s questionable whether or not a majority of voters could identify the candidates if they weren’t prompted.
Meaning Bolling is going to make the biggest decision of his political career based on data on the attitudes of people who are paying scant attention at best to whatever might be going on a few months from now.
Column by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
