By Bob Gibson
Charlottesville political blogger
Fresh off the news of his fundraising success in the Virginia governor’s race, Terry McAuliffe showed up at the John Paul Jones Arena on Thursday night wearing, well, not quite the right color of blue sweater for a University of Virginia game against North Carolina.
As McAuliffe took his front-row seat courtside next to John and Renee Grisham, more than a few Wahoo fans noticed that McAuliffe’s sweater was a significantly lighter blue than Virginia’s dark blue hue.
The front-running candidate of three Democrats in the money race approaching the June 9 Democratic Party primary for governor, McAuliffe had not committed the cardinal mistake of wearing a baby blue sweater to the basketball game dominated by the Tar Heels, but his sweater was a noticeably moderate blue.
Not to worry about such things, McAuliffe kept up a lively conversation with John and Renee while the man who had been sitting next to him disappeared and reappeared a few minutes later with a Virginia hat.
McAuliffe put the hat on.
Either he was newly self-conscious about the color of his sweater or it was a bit chilly in JPJ, but the baseball-style hat wasn’t enough for McAuliffe.
At halftime, McAuliffe doffed a dark blue Virginia jacket with orange lettering, completing his transition from a moderate blue fan to one wearing Virginia colors.
UNC easily triumphed in the game, 83-61, and the dark-blue jacketed McAuliffe stayed with the Grishams through to the bitter end.
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Posted by ( Chris Graham ) on January 17, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Sorry, Virginia Heel. We wouldn’t let frontrunners run this state. Nor would we benefit from having candidates whose best quality is having the refs worked on their behalf for them in the running to represent us. Give Terry credit for having the political common sense to drop a hundred bucks on a new hat and jacket, if not for showing up courtside with the Grishams with that much sense.
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Posted by ( Bob Gibson ) on January 16, 2009 at 12:47 pm
And, it could be noted, Republican Bob McDonnell, who already has the GOP nomination for governor sewn up, is sitting on about $2 million in the bank just waiting for the eventual winner of the Democrats’ June 9 three-way primary.
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Posted by ( Bob Gibson ) on January 16, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Good point Virginia Tar Heel. Ty and Ty sure put on a show. Still, running for office in Virginia might make one a bit more sensitive to Virginia colors.
By the way, McAuliffe’s fund-raising lead was only in cash raised in the latter half of 2008. In cash on hand, he had slightly less ($718,000) on Dec. 31 than primary rivals Creigh Deeds, who had $891,000 in the bank, and Brian Moran, who had $770,000 in the bank.
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Posted by ( Virginia Tar Heel ) on January 16, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Hey Bob, there’s not a darned thing wrong with wearing Carolina Blue! Heck the walls of the Chamber of the Virginia House of Delegates was Carolina Blue until the recent retrograde renovation returned it to a Victorian beige, yellow, tobacco, maroon conglomeration.
We could also use a few members with the focus of Tyler Hansbrough and the grace of Ty Lawson.
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