Wall Street Journal faults Ted Cruz, 'dour social conservatism' for Cuccinelli loss

The Wall Street Journal editorializes on Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's failed bid for Virginia governor, writing in part that he was betrayed by the Tea Party:

Mr. Cuccinelli's supposed friends in the tea party also stabbed him in the back by pushing the government shutdown. About 30% of Virginia voters live in the Washington, D.C., suburbs that are packed with government employees, and the Democrat [Terry McAuliffe] won that suburban vote by 62% to 33% according to the exit polls. If Senator Ted Cruz, Heritage Action and the kamikaze caucus had spent money for Mr. Cuccinelli instead of attacking fellow Republicans in August, he might have won. ...

But Mr. Cuccinelli's dour social conservatism hurt him among some voters. His positions on abortion and gay marriage are the same as Mr. McDonnell's and for that matter not much different from Mr. Christie's. Yet Mr. Cuccinelli sometimes gives the impression of being a charter member of the cast-the-first-stone coalition, which made it easier for Democrats to stereotype him with their deluge of TV ads financed by the Clinton machine.

Cruz's office declined to comment on the Journal's criticism and as of the publication of this post, Cruz himself has not issued comment on the election results.

@eScarry