McAuliffe gearing up for next gubernatorial race

PETERSBURG - Terry McAuliffe is back. More than two years ago, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee didn’t even win his party’s nomination to run against Republican Bob McDonnell for governor.

But last night, the fundraising machine from McLean was back in town to speak at the 16th Fall Banquet of the Petersburg Democrats. And once again, he came to fire up his base for the 2011 and 2012 elections, and maybe the next race for Virginia’s highest office in 2013.

“I’m not going to rule it out. We’ll see about that,” McAuliffe said when The Progress-Index asked him if he will throw his hat back in the ring in two years. “We definitely have some interesting things going on at the moment,” he added.

In 2009, McAuliffe - a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and manager of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign - pushed hard in the race leading up to the Democratic primaries. But in spite of an aggressive campaign, candidate Creigh Deeds secured the nomination with 50 percent of the votes statewide.

And McAuliffe wasn’t the favorite candidate in Petersburg, where primary voters solidly supported former state Del. Brian J. Moran for the party’s nomination. Moran received 1,034 votes here, or 44 percent of the total, compared with 703 for McAuliffe (30 percent) and 632 for Deeds (27 percent).

But last night, there was little doubt that local Democrats might support him come 2013. “He has all the right equipment to be our candidate for governor of Virginia,” said Del. Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg, earning applause from attendees at the Tabernacle Community Life Center. “Because when you fall, you gotta get back up,” Dance added.

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