Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, once blamed his father's death on President George W. Bush's election in 2000.

In a May 2001 interview with C-SPAN, titled the "Life and Career of Terry McAuliffe," the former Democratic National Committee chairman says one of the "reasons" his father, Jack, died was "he could not go into a new year knowing that a Republican was actually moving into the White House."

While his father was in the hospital, McAuliffe's mother "went and came back in five minutes later, and he had passed away. And I told the story, you know, I gave at the eulogy at his funeral, and there are many reasons why people thought Jack had died," McAuliffe told C-SPAN. "He was 83 years old. And I said the main reason is that he could not go into a new year knowing that a Republican was actually moving into the White House. I just don't think he could've handled that."

"He had eight great years," McAullife continued. "President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton were so nice to my mother and father, they'd come down all the time. So he had a great eight years when President Clinton and Vice President Gore were in office, and he just wasn't going into a new year with a Democrat not being in the White House Steve, he just couldn't handle it."

His father passed away shortly before President Bill Clinton left office in early 2001.

McAuliffe leads Republican Ken Cuccinelli by five points, according to recent polling. His second television advertisement, released Thursday morning, condemns the "divisive, ideological agenda" of his opponents.