RICHMOND (USA), Oct 27: State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign for governor of Virginia has always been a test of whether a deeply conservative Republican could win in a swing-voting state.

For months, Cuccinelli – known outside his state for mounting the first-in-the-nation legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s health care law – was locked in a competitive race with Democrat Terry McAuliffe as both candidates sought to court an ideologically diverse crop of voters, moderates and women among them.

Now with polls showing the Republican trailing with time running out and money drying up, Cuccinelli has started emphasising his far-right credentials in hopes of firing up enough anti-tax, small government tea party supporters and social conservatives to engineer a come-from-behind victory in what’s expected to be a low-participation election Nov 5.

“This is, at least in part, a referendum on Obamacare.’’

At a time when the national Republican Party is divided between its ideological and pragmatic wings, a Cuccinelli victory here could validate tea party power not just in the Republican Party but within the broader electorate.

A defeat would show the insurgent group’s limits and would give fodder to the Republican establishment arguing that nominating ideological purists is not a pathway to success.

The outcome also could give clues about which way the Republican Party moves heading into 2014’s congressional elections when control of Congress will be at stake.

With 10 days to go in Virginia, surveys show McAuliffe ahead, and Democrats are trying to grow that lead by pouring a ton of money into the race.

Last week, McAuliffe and Democratic allies outspent Cuccinelli by a 10-to-1 margin in television advertising in the state and are on track to spend almost $14 million on ads in this campaign.

As the state’s attorney general, Cuccinelli took on Obama’s health care law, and he has pressed policies in line with his anti-abortion rights view, allowing Democrats to accuse him of trying to limit women’s access to birth control.—AP