Cuccinelli says he looks forward to taking a break from public office. | REUTERS Cuccinelli rules out another run

HOT SPRINGS, Va. — Ken Cuccinelli faulted the Republicans who lacked faith in him during the home stretch of the Virginia governor’s race Saturday night.

Fighting back tears through a surprise, 30-minute dinner speech to party activists at The Homestead Resort, the attorney general recounted a phone conversation with his finance chairman, Pete Snyder, two weeks before Election Day.


“I said, ‘This wave’s really happening. We’ve just got to raise enough money to buy a surfboard,’” Cuccinelli recalled. “And we didn’t.”

( Also on POLITICO: Ex-RNC chair Ed Gillespie weighs Mark Warner challenge in Virginia)

The candidate, who lost to Democrat Terry McAuliffe by only 2.5 points, noted that he “went dark” on Northern Virginia television that week because he did not have the cash. He didn’t blame his own team, praising Snyder and others for sticking with him, but referred to those who closed the spigots.

“You all believed,” he told a few hundred party faithful, in between their salads and braised short ribs. “If everyone else had done that, from the third week of September to the third week of October, we would have won.”

Cuccinelli, 45, suggested he will not seek public office again – specifically ruling out a run against Sen. Mark Warner (D) next year.

( PHOTOS: Senators up for election in 2014)

“I don’t mind not having an elected role in about a month or so. I’ve been in office 11 years,” he said. “I look forward to a little bit of a break. … but I’ll be back with you. I’m not talking as a candidate, but just fighting for these principles because I believe in them.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was supposed to keynote the gala at the annual Republican Party of Virginia “Advance” conference, but an ice storm forced him to cancel. A treacherous forecast also prompted a few hundred attendees to leave here early. So half the ballroom was empty, and only one print reporter remained.

A minute-long standing ovation greeted Cuccinelli, with chants of “Cooch” from the crowd.

Wearing a dark suit and his trademark red tie, he said he was talking to his wife Teiro on Friday night after they’d celebrated their son’s sixth birthday about how much he wanted to be at the event. So the couple made the four-hour drive together, and they left to drive back as soon as he finished speaking.

( Also on POLITICO: GOP men told how to talk to women)

Cuccinelli made light of his fundraising struggles in a state where candidates can accept unlimited contributions, but where he never ingratiated himself with the Richmond business elite and did not cultivate a needed network of major donors until it was too late. Meanwhile, McAuliffe was a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee who made a name for himself as a fundraiser.

Cuccinelli mentioned $250,000 donors, and then quipped: “Oh, wait a minute. I didn’t have any of those.”

Through the speech, Cuccinelli warned the party against compromising because of his defeat. He said Republicans “can’t be shy about speaking up” for conservatism.

“I jokingly tell people I’m a Republican because we’re wrong less,” he said. “We’ve got all our own issues, but when we are the party of principle, people rally to that.

“If the Republican Party isn’t there to protect [principles], there’s nobody left and we need to remember that,” he added. “They need to be what defines us as Republicans and not to say ‘we need to set that aside today for some short-term advantage.’”

As he did in his concession speech, Cuccinelli said the flawed Obamacare rollout helped him close the gap in the final days. He suggested that he might have won if the race had gone on a few more days.

And he said that Warner, who cast a pivotal vote for the law in the Senate, is vulnerable next year because of the problems.

“He lied to Virginians, and they’re going to be reminded of that for 11 months,” he said. “Mark Warner gave you Obamacare.”

“And, by the way, just so you’re clear I’m not running against Mark Warner,” he added. “I’m making a point.”