Virginia GOP Steers Hard Right

RICHMOND — Thousands of Virginia Republicans on Saturday picked a slate of statewide candidates who vowed to stay true to conservative principles, resisting calls to remake the GOP message after losses in 2012.

At the top of the ticket is gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli II, the attorney general. Known for high-profile battles against “Obamacare,” abortion and a university climate scientist, Cuccinelli stood by what detractors have called an out-of-the-mainstream agenda.

“When did it become extreme to protect children from predators and human traffickers?” Cuccinelli asked. “When did it become extreme to guard our Constitution from overreach? When did it become extreme to secure the freedom of the wrongly convicted? And when did it become extreme to ask government to spend a little less so our economy can grow?”

He left the stage to the strains of the country music singer Aaron Tippin’s “You’ve Got to Stand for Something.”

Cuccinelli was one of three conservatives chosen Saturday for the GOP’s 2013 ticket — a reaction, many here at the state party convention said, to last year’s failed presidential bid by Mitt Romney, a Republican they thought was too moderate and waffling.

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