The words in the title are from this morning’s Washington Post editorial, which notes that “Mr. Cruz is this year’s homecoming king” at this hate group’s “annual gala dinner [to] be held Saturday night in Richmond.” Here’s the invitation (click to “embiggen”); followed by more information about the “Family Foundation.”

*The head of the organization, Victoria Cobb, has been the way she is a long time: in 6th grade, she  wrote “an essay in which she imagined herself a fictional judge overturning Roe v. Wade.” It’s only gotten worse from there…

…She now heads up a group which opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest, which is rabidly homophobic, also “pro-school-choice, pro-limited government, pro-tax policies that create incentives for mothers to stay at home, and pro-religious expression in public places such as courthouses and state schools.” She’s also a big promoter of “‘The Truth Project,’ a DVD training series” which “[exhorts] Christians to arm themselves for a ‘battle of worldviews’ and to inject Biblical principles into topics such as government, history and science.” Great, huh? Oh, and she’s also a close ally of E.W. Jackson, “the Family Foundation’s Chesapeake-based chaplain.”

*Among the “victories” and “victories to come” the group touts on its website: “Require ultrasound and women offered to view ultrasound prior to abortion”; “Outlaw Elective Abortion in Obamacare Health Insurance Exchanges;” “Added a Marriage Amendment to the VA State Constitution;” “Defeated the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation in Employment and Hate Crimes”; “Required Posting of National Motto: “In God We Trust”; “Ban Taxpayer Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Planned Parenthood;” “Divorce Reform/Modified No-Fault Divorce;” and “Religious Liberty Amendment.”

*The group believes in “death panels” and adulates Ken Cuccinelli.

*On its website, it has this bizarre rant about how President Obama supposedly doesn’t believe “he United States of America is a Christian nation” (which of course it isn’t and never has been), citing as “evidence” Obama’s citing “the fact that Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and others are American citizens.” Uh, hello? That IS a fact, what’s the question here? Who knows with these extremists.

*Ken Cuccinelli will rally with these Patr Robertson/Jerry Falwell-style theocrats tonight, along with neo-confederate Ted Cruz and ultra-slimy Eric Can’tor. How ANY Virginian could vote for Cuccinelli – or his ideological soulmates E.W. Jackson and Mark Obenshain – is truly disturbing…

From the Mark Herring for Attorney General campaign: 

Tea Party Darling Ted Cruz Speaks To Obenshain’s Family Foundation

Tomorrow night in Richmond, Tea Party U.S. Senator and architect of thegovernment shutdown Ted Cruz will be the keynote speaker for the social conservative interest group The Family Foundation’s 2013 Gala.  This is the type of event that only Tea Party candidate for Attorney General Mark Obenshain could dream of.

Mark Obenshain earned the Virginia TeaParty Patriots Federation’s endorsement because he has supported their agenda through his votes and through his positions. When asked for his thoughts on the government shutdown, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, Obenshain “shied away from assigning blame to the tea party – a movement that has endorsed and supported his candidacy.”

During his career in the state Senate, Mark Obenshain has also been a champion for The Family Foundation. He recently earned a perfect score of 100 from the group for voting according to their recommendations on ‘pro-family’ legislation, such as the transvaginal ultrasound bill, and on four anti-LGBT-related issues, including his vote against including non-discrimination based on sexual orientation in state hiring and for walking off the Senate floor rather than vote to confirm Judge Tracy Thorne-Begland, who happens to be gay.

This is an event that only someone with a record as extreme as Mark Obenshain's could look forward to.

There are a couple new polls out this morning, one from the University of Mary Washington (poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International) and the other by Hampton University.

*Both polls have Terry McAuliffe leading Ken Cuccinelli; UMW by 7 points (42%-35%) among “likely voters” (LVs) and 10 points (43%-33%) among “registered voters” (RVs); Hampton University by 5 points (42%-37%) among LVs.

*In both polls, Libertarian Robert Sarvis is clocking in at around 8%-10% support. The Hampton University poll has Sarvis drawing 58% from Independents, 22% from Democrats, and 21% from Republicans. If this poll is accurate, it implies that Sarvis isn’t really helping or hurting either McAuliffe or Cuccinelli – basically the “Sarvis Effect” is a wash. I’m not sure other polls show this, however.

*The killer number for Ken Cuccinelli is in the UMW poll, which has his unfavorability rating at 52% (!) among LVs (note: Cuccinelli’s “unfavorable” number is also awful, 47%, in the Hampton University poll). How do you win an election when more than half the LVs view you unfavorably (compared to just 35% who view McAuliffe unfavorably)? Got me.

*The LG and AG races continue to be pretty much terra incognito, with around 60%-70% of LVs saying they never even HEARD of the candidates in these contests. That’s just astounding to me – how can a “likely voter” in an election in just 5 weeks not even have HEARD OF the statewide candidates on the ballot? On the other hand, when you look at the relatively tiny audience for political news (legacy OR social media), debates, forums, etc., and when you look at the thin (to be charitable) coverage of these races by the “dead-tree” folks, perhaps it’s not as astounding. Still, it’s pathetic in my opinion, that citizens in a representative democracy – LIKELY voters no less! – are so clueless, just a few weeks before the election.

*Given the almost complete lack of knowledge of the LG and AG candidates, I’d say the “top line,” head-to-head poll numbers are pretty much worthless. If you care, UMW has Northam up 4 points among LVs and 8 points among RVs. The Hampton University poll has Northam DOWN by 1 point, which I find extremely hard to believe. As for the AG race, UMW has Mark Herring up 2 points among RVs, but down 6 points among LVs (Hampton University’s poll has Herring down 4 points). To the extent these results have any meaning at all – and again, I’m dubious that they do – it emphasizes the need for Democrats to GET OUT AND VOTE on November 5.

One last point I’d make to progressive and/or pro-Democratic readers of this blog about Robert Sarvis. Yes, the guy’s fine (although no better than Terry McAuliffe) on “social issues” like LGBT equality and a woman’s right to choose. The problem is, he’s not good at all from a Democratic perspective on: 1) the environment and energy (e.g., he opposes regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and also opposed any state incentives, like a Renewable Portfolio Standard, to jump start wind, solar, and other clean energy); 2) campaign finance and government reform (e.g., he opposes ANY limits on contributions to state candidates); 3) guns (e.g., he OPPOSES closing the “gun show loophole” and opposes ANY restrictions on guns at all); 4) voting rights (e.g., he SUPPORTS photo ID requirements); 5) health care (e.g., he opposes the Affordable Care Act and favors “returning health-care regulation to the states”); 6) education (e.g., he’s huge on “vouchers,” charter schools, and generally defunding public education); and 7) the budget (he would blow a HUGE hole in Virginia’s budget and most likely decimate our AAA bond rating with his plan to slash taxes with no serious plan to replace the lost revenues). Other than that, Sarvis ROCKS (not)!