Anti-Gay Virginia Attorney General Resigns to Run for Governor

Today Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell resigned as Virginia's Attorney General in order that he can devote 100% of his efforts to his campaign to become Virginia's governor in the election this coming November. As long as McDonnell doesn't win in November, the resignation is obviously good for LGBT Virginians inasmuch as it is unlikely that which ever Deputy Attorney General moves up to fill the vacancy will be a homophobic and married to the Christianist far right as McDonnell has been. While I have known McDonnell since 1994, he has become increasingly extreme and beholden to the Christian Right and Daddy Dobson's Virginia affiliate, The Family Foundation. As the campaign moves forward, it will be interesting to see whether McDonnell is asked about his covering up for former Congressman Ed Schrock - McDonnell was told about Schrock's "extra curricular activities" by yours truly roughly eight months before Mike Rogers "outed" Schrock on BlogActive.com. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

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Attorney General Bob McDonnell is resigning as attorney general to focus on his gubernatorial campaign. McDonnell, a former House of Delegates member from Virginia Beach, announced his plan in an e-mail sent to employees in the state Attorney General's Office shortly before 8 a.m. today.

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In stepping down, McDonnell is continuing a tradition observed by past Republican and Democratic Virginia attorneys general who have left office in the final year of their term to run for governor. The most recent example is former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, who left office in 2005 to concentrate on his gubernatorial bid.

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McDonnell, 54, is running unopposed for the Republican nomination and is the party's presumptive nominee for governor. A social and fiscal conservative, McDonnell is a U.S. Army veteran with roots in Northern Virginia and South Hampton Roads. Before being elected attorney general in 2005, he served 14 years in the House of Delegates. . . . . He received his law degree from Regent University. . . .