Democrats are putting a spotlight on some new comments about abortion by Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli while Republicans continue to demand Democrat Terry McAuliffe reveal more about his taxes.
Cuccinelli doesn’t hide that fact that he is an enormous opponent of abortion, but Democrats, who have hit Cuccinelli harder on this issue than any other, say his latest comments go too far.
Earlier this week, they spotlighted a 2012 speech to the Christian life summit in which Cuccinelli talked about how God would judge America on the issue of abortion.
On Thursday Democrats spotlighted brand new comments that came when an online TV show host, asked Cuccinelli to explain what he'd meant, and Cuccinelli compared his view on abortion to Abraham Lincoln's view of slavery.
“If you go back to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, he looked at the Civil War as a sort of a national penance for slavery, the evil of slavery, letting it go on, and the founders knew how bad it was, and we have other things in this country today, and abortion is one of them,” Cuccinelli said.
Democratic State Sen. Barbara Favola, a McAuliffe supporter, called the comments bizarre
“I don't know what world he is living in, but it’s not the Virginia that most Virginians want to see,” she said.
A Cuccinelli spokesman told News4 it's no secret the candidate is proudly pro-life, but his focus as governor will be jobs.
In the meantime, the McAuliffe campaign continues to defend its decision to release only a "summary" of the Democratic businessman’s 2012 taxes. McAuliffe made $9.5 million and paid $2.7 million in taxes. Republicans accuse McAuliffe of profiting from shady investment schemes and say voters deserve to know more about his financial dealings and how he made his money.
A McAuliffe spokesman said the candidate is going above and beyond Virginia reporting requirements.
