Cuccinelli avoided being photographed with Cruz at the gala. | AP Photos Cuccinelli shuns Cruz limelight

RICHMOND, Va.— That was awkward.

In the clearest sign yet of the potent effect of the government shutdown on the Virginia governor’s race, Republican Ken Cuccinelli avoided being photographed with Ted Cruz at a gala they headlined here Saturday night—even leaving before the Texas senator rose to speak.


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Backstage, a source said, Cuccinelli urged Cruz to work with Democrats to end the federal shutdown. But he did not make that point, or even acknowledge Cruz, in short public comments to some 1,100 social conservatives.

Cruz has become the face of GOP intransigence, and the conservative attorney general’s effort to distance himself from congressional Republicans reflects how damaging Cuccinelli realizes a prolonged shutdown may be for his campaign.

For his part, Cruz heaped praise on his “friend” Cuccinelli and argued passionately in a 54-minute speech that their party can still win the messaging fight over the shutdown if the people just speak out loudly enough.

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“Ken is smart, he’s principled and he’s fearless,” said Cruz, in a line that may give the left fodder for attack ads, given how the campaign has gone. “And that last characteristic in particular is a rare, rare commodity in elected life. There are so many elected officials in both parties that desperately crave the adulation of the media and the intelligentsia.”

The dynamic made for a stilted evening at the Richmond convention center, where the conservative Family Foundation hosted its annual fundraising dinner.

Cuccinelli spoke for less than 10 minutes. He did not mention the shutdown until the end, only to say that Democrat Terry McAuliffe would be willing to shut down Virginia’s state government to expand Medicaid.

“Now he can’t backpedal fast enough,” said Cuccinelli. “Think about what he would shut down government over: because it’s not big enough, because it doesn’t reach far enough, because it isn’t spending enough of our children’s money. That’s what he’ll go to the mat for.”

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About 175,000 federal workers were furloughed this week in the Commonwealth, a state particularly dependent on federal spending, and polls have shown Republicans get more blame than Democrats for the shutdown.

Cuccinelli — who has consistently trailed by about five points in polling and whose team acknowledges has been the underdog — has spoken out more and more strongly against the shutdown. He’s said he wanted to avoid it but did not say until this Thursday that the fight to defund Obamacare should be separated from the budget battle.

After Cuccinelli finished, a pastor from Williamsburg named Mark Morrow praised Cruz for being willing to shut down the government and said many now see him as the most powerful man in the capitol.

“It’s about time that someone in Washington abandons the faulty notion that compromise is the best way to win,” he said.

Undeterred by rebukes from many leaders in his own caucus, Cruz then launched into a protracted defense of his brinksmanship.

“If you trust the media, if you trust the voices of Washington, if you trust even – God forbid, some elected Republicans in Washington, they say we can’t win this fight,” he said.

He argued that Democrats will be blamed for not compromising, faulting Senate Majority Harry Reid for not allowing the upper chamber to vote on piecemeal funding bills being passed by the House.

“Their position is untenable right now,” he said.

Cruz touted Republican success at blocking new gun laws in the wake of last year’s massacre at an elementary school in Connecticut and the president’s decision not to go through with bombing Syria as evidence that they can succeed if they are firm enough.

“Millions of Americans spoke up,” he said. “So how do we win this fight over Obamacare? The exact same way!”

“Official Washington may not be with us, but the American people are,” he added.

Democrats quickly accused the Cuccinelli campaign of fabricating a backstage meeting and attacked the Republican for not calling out Cruz publicly.

“The truth is that Cuccinelli tonight refused to speak out against Cruz’s shutdown that has hurt Virginia’s economy,” said Democratic Party of Virginia spokesman Brian Coy.

Cruz committed to speak at the fundraiser several months ago, and just a few weeks ago the Cuccinelli campaign pondered a separate rally with him to help drive up conservative turnout. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) headlined a fundraiser for Cuccinelli in Richmond last month, at which the two appeared onstage together and the candidate declared a glowing introduction.

To try getting ahead of the negative coverage Saturday, Cuccinelli campaign strategist Chris LaCivita sent a statement to reporters stressing that the Republican wants all federal workers to get paid for the time they were furloughed and has pushed members of Congress to not accept their salaries.

“The insensitivity with which President Obama, Harry Reid, Terry McAuliffe and other Democrats have approached the government shutdown is beyond unacceptable,” he wrote. “While Ken is offering clear-headed, responsible leadership during a difficult situation, Terry McAuliffe is hunkered down deep into his comfort zone: Washington, DC-style politics.”

Cruz also bent over backward to pin the blame for the shutdown on Democrats. He urged the crowd to get everyone they know to put pressure on Democratic senators, specifically citing three vulnerable incumbents up in 2014: Arkansas’ Mark Pryor, Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu and North Carolina’s Kay Hagan.

“Career politicians of both parties have gotten us into this mess,” he said, “but it’s going to be the American people who get us out.”