If polls are to be believed, Democrat Terry McAuliffe is likely to be Virginia’s next governor.
But five days before Election Day, his only publicly-announced event for the next few days is a Tele-Town Hall with Republican supporters Friday morning. He is scheduled to appear at rallies with President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Sunday and Monday.
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Mr. McAuliffe’s public availability has varied throughout his campaign for governor against Republican Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II and Libertarian Robert Sarvis.
“I have focused on running for governor,” he told reporters in August. “That is what I’m doing every day — I encourage you to come with me. We get up early in the morning, we go late at night — we’re out seven days a week talking about the issues.”
But in an article this week detailing his 2010 trip to Cuba, his campaign declined to make him available for an interview with The Washington Post, instead answering questions through a spokesman.
The Associated Press also wrote the following about a stop in Charlottesville on his recent four-day tour through the state with former President Bill Clinton:
“While neither McAuliffe nor Clinton addressed the polling or took questions from reporters, each stressed the importance to supporters to get out the vote through Tuesday and took aim at Cuccinelli’s conservative views to a receptive audience in this city that is home to the University of Virginia.”
Nor did Mr. McAuliffe, who has called for universal background checks on all gun purchases but still describes himself as pro-Second Amendment and an avid hunter, offer a comment for a recent article by potomaclocal.com about the “sportsman’s vote” in Virginia.
“Calls to the McAuliffe campaign about that candidate’s history on hunting and his position on sportsmen’s issues went unanswered,” Beau Beasley wrote for the news site, which covers Prince William and Stafford counties — both areas still in play in the race.
Mr. Sarvis, who has been polling at around 10 percent, has been on a veritable media blitz in recent days. Mr. Cuccinelli has also made himself available to reporters at recent rallies, though he has declined to answer questions at times in the past, including one notable instance after being asked about a dispute over natural gas royalties in southwest Virginia.
