Sarvis, a libertarian alternative to McAuliffe and Cuccinelli, gains traction in Va. governor’s race
By Paul Schwartzman, Washington Post, October 3, 2013
The students greeted the boyish-faced man in the charcoal suit as the stranger he is to Virginia politics.
“Hi — Rob Sarvis, running for governor,” the Libertarian said, wading into an auditorium of seniors at a Northern Virginia high school’s “Meet the Candidates” day.
Terry McAuliffe, who was set to tout his ethics-law plan, sees a campaign moment, and Cuccinelli fires back.
Sarvis sat alongside stand-ins for his opponents, Terry McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli II, who apparently had more important places to be than a gathering of teenagers, many of them not old enough to vote……
While political analysts expect Sarvis’s support to slip by Election Day, they say that he appears to be taking more votes from Cuccinelli.
“Terry McAuliffe is benefiting greatly from the Republicans’ choice, and, increasingly, it looks like Sarvis is benefiting as well,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington.
