Insisting on what he calls principle


has earned Cuccinelli a certain reputation for authenticity. Supporters and


detractors agree: What you see is what you get.


him a conservative superman, a toast of the Tea Party movement. As Cuccinelli edits bombshell briefs in his Richmond office — where a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” banner stands beside the Virginia and American flags — or barnstorms the state promoting his causes, he could not appear more boyishly eager to be here, now. “I believe right now the battle of our


time is the battle of liberty against the overreach of the federal government,” he says. “I wouldn’t pick any other four- year period to be in this office.” Yet the journey from the campus


steps of the Rotunda to the courthouse steps in the state capital, which in- cluded an eight-year stop as the last conservative GOP state senator from Northern Virginia, was no simple mat- ter of hitching a ride on a movement. Insisting on what he calls principle, even when it might cost him, has earned Cuccinelli a certain reputation for au- thenticity. It’s one of the few points on which Cuccinelli’s supporters and de- tractors agree. With Cuccinelli, they say, what you see is what you get. In his first 100 days in office, Cuc-


2009 PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE HELBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS


elli with staff members at the Capital ale house in Richmond. t left, with Del. Phil hamilton (R) at the state capitol in 2009.


cinelli filed a legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s in- tention to regulate greenhouse gases; advised public colleges and universi- ties that they lacked authority to ban discrimination on the basis of sexu- al orientation; filed suit to block the federal health-reform law on consti- tutional grounds; and demanded that


august 1, 2010 | The WashingTon PosT Magazine 15


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