海角大神

During off-election years, the political class regularly watches the gubernatorial race in Virginia, a swing state that has backed President Obama twice and President George W. Bush before him, for signs of the national climate鈥檚 evolution.

So far the 2013 contest, pitting two fierce partisans against each other at a time when the incumbent Republican governor is under federal investigation, has proven nothing if not entertaining. It鈥檚 gotten so in fact, that Virginia鈥檚 Thursday and issued a plea for at least one of the two candidates to step 鈥渁bove the fray鈥� to 鈥渆levate the discussion.鈥�

Who, then, are the players, and, this year, should they and the battle for the state鈥檚 top job matter to voters outside of the Commonwealth?

The Democrats have fielded former Democratic National Committee chief Terry McAuliffe. Mr. McAuliffe, who lives just outside of Washington in McLean, Va., ran for governor unsuccessfully in 2009. A powerful party moneyman during the 1990s and longtime regular on the Sunday chat shows, he counts former President Clinton as his golfing partner and tight buddy. McAuliffe is exuberant, unpredictable, affluent, and provides decades of quotes his opponents can mine for fodder against him. Adversaries view him as a political animal, first and foremost, and question his ties to the state and knowledge of its issues.

Republican state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, deemed a 鈥渉ero of the religious right鈥� by National Journal, made headlines for . A father of seven, he is a tea party favorite who has pursued a two-year investigation against a prominent climate change researcher at the University of Virginia,聽until the Virginia Supreme Court derailed it, and railed against abortion and gay marriage. He is generally viewed as out-of-step with the modern moderate bent of much of the state. Adversaries, even those in his own party, recall that during his seven-year stint in the state Senate, Mr. Cuccinelli was 鈥渦ncompromising鈥� 鈥� and they didn鈥檛 mean it as a compliment. They dubbed him "Crazy Cuccinelli" and "Kook-inelli,"

鈥淭hese two are running against the only people they could beat,鈥� says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

With deeper ties to the conservative state convention attendees who pick the GOP nominee, Cuccinelli forced the more moderate Mr. Bolling out of the contest, and McAuliffe, meanwhile, was the only Democrat who wanted the job.

But both men are mired in legal dramas of their own making all while the state鈥檚 incumbent Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) faces a federal investigation about gifts (a Rolex watch, catering for his daughter鈥檚 wedding, clothes for his wife) and money he received from a wealthy Virginia businessman and did not report.

Cuccinelli has been questioned for , the company run by Jonnie Williams Sr., the wealthy, gift-giving donor to Governor McDonnell. Cuccinelli also received some $18,000 worth of gifts from Mr. Williams that he failed to report and declined to return, and he has stayed in two of his homes.

Meanwhile, by the Securities and Exchange Commission for guaranteeing returns to foreign investors.

鈥淭hey are vying with one another on the scandal scale,鈥� Mr. Sabato says.聽鈥淚t really is a race to the bottom.鈥�

The have ramped up accordingly, with questioning McAuliffe鈥檚 trustworthiness.

Overall, the contest has proven a hyper-indicator of the fractured relationship between the political parties in general and a broader sign of a political system held hostage by the extremes.

鈥淏ecause the two parties are very polarized nationally, this does reflect at least that much, but normally you have a wider selection of candidates and you have at least one of them that comes closer to the mainstream without having these very debilitating appendages,鈥� Sabato says.

The Daily Beast has deemed the Virginia contest

Or, as National Journal put it: 鈥淧ity the Virginia voter.鈥�

Turnout will hold the key to who prevails this fall. Will Republicans be so turned off by the McDonnell investigation that they stay home? Or will Democrats fail to make a love connection with the Clinton gadfly McAuliffe?

Either way, voters are facing a lesser-of-two-evils decision when they head to the polls in November, Sabato adds. He cautions that this year鈥檚 contest does not necessarily allow politicos to read the tea leaves in Virginia for hints about how the national electorate might shape up in advance of the 2016 White House contest. It鈥檚 hard to see a vote for either McAuliffe or Cuccinelli, alternately, as an endorsement or repudiation of President Obama鈥檚 policies.

The latest shows the race with a 1.3 percentage point difference between the candidates. So, it is anyone's race.

But Sabato notes one sliver of good news for all Virginians as they consider their decisions in the gubernatorial faceoff.

鈥淭he saving grace is our one-term limit, and I鈥檓 going to fight anybody in the future who proposes to change it,鈥� Sabato says.