Terry McAuliffe: Obama's (Clinton's) man

by Mark Silva

In what contest could Tom Daschle's endorsement be bragging rights?

In Terry McAuliffe's campaign for governor of Virginia.

In what contest could those TV ads that Hillary Clinton ran about taking that sensitive "3 am phone call" at the White House be a problem?

In McAuliffe's campaign for governor.

At least, this is what the two leading contenders for the Democratic nomination in Virginia's governor's race this year believe. Democrat Brian Moran is spending some time reminding voters in Virginia, the politically shifting Southern state which helped elect President Barack Obama, that McAuliffe ran Clinton's hard-charging and ultimately losing Democratic primary contest against Obama

Moran has put up a radio ad that resurrects the 3 am phone-call ads that Clinton's campaign, chaired by McAuliffe, ran against Obama - as well as sound from McAuliffe's Daily Show appearance in which he jokingly said: "Kiss my ass, Barack.''

(See McAuliffe's laugh line in the video here:)

The message, according to the Washington Examiner's account of the Moran radio ad in Hampton Roads and Richmond, is a warning and a reminder: "The fact is, if Terry McAuliffe had his way, Barack Obama wouldn't be our president today.''

So McAuliffe, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and big "friend of Bill" running for governor in the state which this year is giving up its governor, Tim Kaine, to serve as chairman of the DNC, has trotted out Daschle, the former Senate majority leader whom Obama tapped for secretary of Health and Human Services only to have Daschle withdraw over his back payment of more than $100,000 in taxes.

McAuliffe "worked tirelessly to unify our party'' after the national primaries ended, the former majority leader says in his letter of endorsement for the Democrat, the Examiner's William Flook reports.Former President Bill Clinton also did some stump-speaking last week for McAuliffe in suburban Fairfax County, one of the biggest battlegrounds in a state that has shifted from red to blue with its two most recent governors and in its electoral votes for the White House

"She is going to win this thing, John,'' McAuliffe said of Hillary Clinton, in his talk with The Daily Show's Jon Stewart last year. "She is going to the White House...'' Of course, as the campaign was ending, he also said: "I feel good, we're going to come together quickly.''