CULPEPER – Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida today lent his conservative star power to help get out the vote for Virginia’s Republican statewide ticket, braving chilly temperatures and political headwinds at an outdoor rally in this D.C. exurb where the GOP must do well to come from behind and win on Election Day.
Rubio and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli focused on the opponent in the race – not Democrat Terry McAuliffe, but President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
“Only six people signed up for it on the first day, and the problem with that is they had promised free steak knives to the seventh,” Rubio quipped to the bundled up audience of around 200 supporters.
They gathered in Yowell Meadow Park to see Cuccinelli, lieutenant governor hopeful E.W. Jackson and Sen. Mark Obenshain, who is running for attorney general.
“I think clearly this is one of the first opportunities that Americans have had to speak out on the role of federal government in the aftermath of the implementation of Obamacare, which is hurting real people,” Rubio told reporters afterward.
Cuccinelli is banking on what he believes is widespread dissatisfaction with the health law to carry him to victory in Virginia, where most recent polls have him trailing McAuliffe by anywhere from 4 to 12 points.
McAuliffe supports the ACA and the expansion of Medicaid in Virginia, saying it will create jobs and provide health care to 400,000 of the working poor.
“The next battle in the fight over Obamacare is right here in Virginia on Nov. 5,” the attorney general told the crowd, his voice hoarse after more than a dozen campaign stops in the last three days.
“Are you with me in this fight?”
Athena Timberlake was on board.
“He’s against big government. People really need to start being responsible for themselves,” said the 64-year-old Rixeyville resident.
Culpeper retiree Mike Viar, 67, agreed, saying electing McAuliffe would be the equivalent of “inviting Obama to come on down,” to Virginia.
Cuccinelli will be heading up and down the I-95 corridor on Election Day, voting early in Prince William County before making stops to work the polls in Fairfax and later in Hanover, before heading to downtown Richmond to watch election returns.
It was Rubio’s second trip across the Potomac to help Cuccinelli. Rubio, often mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2016, appeared at a fundraising luncheon for the attorney general in September.
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This article originally appeared in The Richmond Times-Dispatch on November 5th, 2013.
