Cuccinelli gets into a game of paintball at hogback Mountain Paintball near Leesburg. his strategy: flank shots.
the nearly 100-degree heat of Hogback Mountain in rural Loudoun County. It’s never too early for Cuccinelli to be gird- ing for his next electoral contest. “We’re already running,” he says, chug-
ging water during a lull. “I’m a target, so I’ve got to act like one. Which just means work hard. Don’t wait for the election.” The joke in Virginia is that AG stands
for “almost governor,” and that’s what the last few attorneys general appeared to be planning. Cuccinelli maintains that he’ll run for reelection. “I look forward to voting for you for
president in 2020,” says a paint-spat- tered Michael C. Sacks, project director at a logistics design company. “I don’t see that happening,” Cuc-
brief in a sensational case heading to the U.S. Supreme Court. The family of a Ma- rine killed in Iraq is suing members of Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas who picket military funerals carrying signs with messages such as “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” The church says the sol- diers’ deaths are a result of the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality. Cuccinelli, who tears up when he
recalls meeting with parents of fallen soldiers, says he can’t back the fam- ily’s lawsuit because it would threaten the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Some will not forgive him. “Any
elected official who refuses to support any movement that would preserve the honor and integrity of a police or mili- tary funeral, I’ve got a problem with that,” says Vic Ingram, a veteran and retired police officer, who says he voted for Cuccinelli for attorney general. Wherever he goes, Cuccinelli is
reminded that his principles have po- tential to cause pain. Since he became attorney general,
he has been a friend of the Daily Plan- et, a medical clinic and homeless shelter in Richmond. He donated $100,000 that had been raised for his inaugural festivities, and has visited to talk about challenges associated with homelessness and mental illness. But the people served by the Daily Planet are among those who could gain the most from health-care re- form. Cuccinelli, their VIP friend, and
his lawsuit, stand in their way. The toughest moment, he says, came
recently, at a dinner of U-Va.’s Soren- sen Institute for Political Leadership, when a woman introduced herself and described how she had walked into her daughter’s room and cried on March 21, the day Congress passed health-care reform. “She thought,” says Cuccinelli, “ ‘My 17-year-old daughter, who’s bipolar and depressed, will finally have guaran- teed health insurance and, therefore, a normal life.’ ” He immediately went into debate
mode with the woman, then stopped in mid-sentence. “I’m a left-brain, cold-bloodedly ob-
jective individual,” he says. “I’m not really that way, but that’s how I think.” But he says he realized, “This isn’t a pol- icy debate; this is a mother. I expressed my understanding, and I do under- stand, even if I don’t agree.”
Dressed in green camouflage and wearing a black cap with the motto “Don’t Tread on Me,” Cuccinelli leads a column of faithful followers through a pine forest to higher ground. “In this game, the way to win, by
which I mean kill people, is flank shots,” Cuccinelli tells them. “You have to play the angles.” Cuccinelli’s annual summer paint-
ball fundraiser reunites a few dozen close associates from the length of his career for a strenuous competition in
cinelli says. As he ponders his future, he has re-
solved to take a pass on what could be his big chance to argue a historic case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The health-care lawsuit, in which arguments are underway, is expected to land there eventually. Cuccinelli has designated his solicitor general, E. Duncan Getch- ell Jr., to argue the case from beginning to end. “I’m perfectly well-prepared, but he’s better prepared,” Cuccinelli says, heading back into the woods. “This is far more important than any individual.” The last skirmish of the afternoon
will not be a capture-the-flag style com- petition. The team with the last person standing wins. “Take no prisoners,” Cuc- cinelli says. “My kind of game.” He sprints through the grass, ducks
behind a wall, fires a burst of paintballs. This afternoon, some of the projectiles have been bouncing off his camouflage outfit, giving him an aura of invinci- bility. In reality, those paintballs were fired too glancingly, from too great a distance, to break against the baggy material. Only if a paintball breaks on you are you out. It happens near the end of the death
match. “I got it in the head,” he says, fin- gering a splotch of yellow on his black cap. “It’s the most certain break, be- cause my head is so hard.”
David Montgomery is a Washington Post staff writer. He can be reached at
montgomery@washpost.com.
august 1, 2010 | The WashingTon PosT Magazine 21
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