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The Cuccinelli Doctrine comes with asterisks. He boasts of bucking the gun lobby when he affirmed George Mason's right to limit firearms on campus. And he lined up with civil libertarians when he was one of just two state attorneys general to decline, on First Amendment grounds, to file an amicus brief in support of a father whose son's military funeral was picketed by anti-gay bigots from the Westboro Baptist Church. But it's his small-government bent that's made him the darling of activists in the Old Dominion State, where attendees at a recent Tea Party convention sported CUCCINELLI FOR PRESIDENT stickers.
He seems to be running for something, but a likelier target is the statehouse in 2013. After the health care ruling, he took a victory lap, launching a fundraising drive to "help defend Ken against the liberal media's attacks"--while making the media rounds to explain his philosophy. "I am universally skeptical of the gathering and exercise of government power," he says. To the dismay of critics, Cuccinelli has gathered some power of his own.