03_Outside Money Plays Big Role In Va. Race For Governor November 08, 2013 Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. DAVID GREENE, HOST: Two of the big winners in Virginia's elections this week were not on the_____. ballot They actually ____ even Virginians. They are two men who spent more than aren't $2 million each to ____elect Democrat Terry McAuliffe as governor. help NPR's Peter Overby reports on the Election Day _____ of San Francisco impact environmentalist Tom Steyer and New York City ____ Michael Bloomberg. Mayor PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Tom Steyer made his _______ as a hedge fund fortune manager. But in the past few years, he's started _______ issue campaigns funding against the Keystone XL pipeline and for _____ on global warming. In Virginia action this year, that meant trying to ______ McAuliffe's Republican opponent, defeat Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Final numbers ______ in yet. aren't Steyer may ____ spent two and a half million dollars, ____ of it in Southwest have / most Virginia's solidly ________ coal country. Steyer put his cash into a Super conservative PAC ____ NextGen Climate Action. There were soft-sell ____ about called / ads Cuccinelli's performance in a legal_____ ... battle (SOUNDBITE OF AN AD) UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: An attorney general is ____ by the taxpayers to paid _____up for us, not an out-of-state energy company that gave him a bunch of stick money. Ken Cuccinelli ____ more about campaign contributions than _____ cares / what's right or_____. wrong OVERBY: ...and there were hard-sell ___ ads (SOUNDBITE OF AN AD) UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Investigations, ____, scandals. Ken Cuccinelli is gifts not for us. NextGen Climate Action Committee _______ this ad. sponsored OVERBY: Steyer also paid for canvassers, direct mail and other ____ of the tools political trade. Cuccinelli _____ the coal counties but not as ______ as carried/handily Republican Governor Bob McDonnell ____ four years ago. Steyer's political did ______ is Democratic consultant Chris Lehane. adviser CHRIS LEHANE: I think we did play a very important if not decisive ___ in role Virginia. And Tom ______ an enormous amount of credit for it. deserves OVERBY: Lehane ______ the energy industry as a Goliath and Steyer as describes one guy with a good______ . slingshot LEHANE: What Tom Steyer spent in this race, you know, the ____ fuel fossil industry probably spends in 15 minutes, every day, you know, every _____ single day of the____. year OVERBY: Which may be true. On the other____, the energy and natural hand resources _____ only gave Cuccinelli's campaign a bit more than a million sector dollars. Also going ____ Cuccinelli was billionaire Michael Bloomberg. He's after pumping money and energy into gun control ______ as his final term as New advocacy York City mayor _____ down. Bloomberg's Independence USA Super PAC winds spent $2 million dollars on ads. They challenged Cuccinelli's ______ on stance ________ gun show purchases and other weak spots in the gun laws. unregulated (SOUNDBITE OF AN AD) UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Siding ___ the NRA and undermining law with ________ ... enforcement OVERBY: Big-spending Super PACs ______ quickly after several court evolved decisions in 2010, _______ the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. The including single-donor Super PAC is an even newer________ . Mary Boyle is a creation spokeswoman for Common Cause, a _____ advocating tighter rules on group political money. She says donors like Steyer and Bloomberg are _______ savvy business people and they're _____ investments. making MARY BOYLE: They are going to be ______ a return. And, you know, with expecting that kind of money, they are likely to ___ it. get OVERBY: She says that ____ them in a special class. puts BOYLE: The _____ is that, you know, the people of Virginia - people who concern cannot give that kind of money - are not getting the kind of ______ and access ________ that these two men will. influence OVERBY: If Cuccinelli was hoping for one or two deep-________ pocketed conservatives to ______ Steyer and Bloomberg, he was out of luck. No other match Super PACs in the race spent even ____ as much as either of these _____ half / liberals did. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) .