DailyKos says:
"There was one article in The Washington Post on December 19 that I found illuminating, however:
But when it comes to spending his own money, campaign finance reports outline how McAuliffe has been far more interested in helping federal versus state candidates for office.
McAuliffe, a wealthy businessman and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has contributed more than $200,000 to presidential, congressional and national party committees since 2000, according to the Federal Election Commission. McAuliffe's wife, Dorothy, has also donated tens of thousands of dollars to federal candidates.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks money in state politics, McAuliffe has made only one contribution to a candidate running for state or local office in Virginia in the past eight years. On Oct. 28, after it was clear he was eyeing the governor's race, McAuliffe gave Fairfax County Supervisor Sharon Bulova (D) $500.
Come on, Terry. You want to run for Governor of a state but have only donated to a state-level candidate once, when it was quite obvious that you would be running for Governor?
This article at Huffington Post also raised concern.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/24/va-gov-candidate-terry-mc_n_146013.html
Apparently, you've been state-shopping - your first choice wasn't Virginia. Your second choice doesn't appear to have been Virginia, either. It looks like Florida and New York hold those honors.
Florida
Despite some questionable real estate transactions outside Orlando (where "The Macker" either scored $2.4 million off of no investment or $2.45 million off of a $100 investment), McAuliffe dangled his toes in the water when it came to running for Governor of Florida. The only problem was, Florida expected a chief executive that, you know, actually lived there:
McAuliffe gave his enemies serious ammunition in 2005, when his spokesman was asked about a report that he was mulling a run against then-Gov. Jeb Bush. The flack shot down the report, citing Florida's seven-year residency requirements -- not McAuliffe's undying love for Virginia.
"He's incredibly flattered, but he will not be a candidate for '06," DNC spokesman Tony Welch told The Miami Herald at the time. "He's intrigued by the idea, but the residency requirement is what it is."
To be fair, apparently the constitutional requirement wasn't common knowledge among gubernatorial hopefuls as Lawton "Bud" Chiles was also thinking of carrying on the family tradition until he read in the newspaper about McAuliffe not being able to run and realized the rule applied to him also.
Florida had long been on McAuliffe's mind. As DNC Chair in 2002 he promised, "Jeb Bush is gone" (he was actually re-elected in a 13 point stomping).
And Florida was still on his mind last week, as was linked all the way to Miami, Not Larry Sabato busted Terry McAuliffe forgetting he is running for Governor of Virginia, not Florida.
If not Florida, then...
New York
McAuliffe's home state of New York would have allowed him to move into the state and quickly establish the residency requirements. In fact, he knew the routine well, as McAuliffe had offered up seven figures so that Hillary Clinton could establish New York residency for her senate run.
Unfortunately, there were problems with running for Governor of New York also. When he blew the 2002 Florida gubernatorial race despite his promise, at least he appeared like he was trying to win. Not quite the same in New York, where McAuliffe knee-capped the Democratic nominee while DNC Chair to the reporters of the largest paper in the state:
''I've got to put the resources where we can win elections,'' Mr. McAuliffe said at a lunch with reporters and editors of The New York Times.
[..]
The comments could not have come on a worse day for Mr. McCall, who was hoping to jump-start his campaign today by enlisting the support of Bill Clinton, one of Mr. McAuliffe's closest friends.
This afternoon, the former president appeared with Mr. McCall at a rally in Washington Heights, and later was host at a fund-raising dinner.
Mr. McCall no doubt wanted the campaign message of the day -- not to mention the television news -- to show a campaign energized and enlivened by the famed Clinton charisma. Instead, he was publicly undercut by the very man Mr. Clinton handpicked to lead the National Democratic Party.
As you can imagine, not the best way to build up goodwill among the Democrats necessary for a primary campaign.
So let me sum up what I've learned:
1. You were DNC Chair for 4 years.
2. You lost House and Senate seats during your tenure as DNC Chair.
3. You lost a Presidential election during your tenure as DNC Chair.
4. You don't appear to have an agenda outside of spending money for Virginia.
5. To be Governor of Virginia was neither your first nor your second choice - you would have preferred Florida or New York.
6. You don't appear to be much of a supporter of Democratic Virginia politics and politicians.
So I close with my open - No way, Terry McAuliffe. You're going to try to look backward at old, unsuccessful strategies for buying yourself a Governor's seat when the people you will need to get you that seat are looking for more, better Democrats - not more of the same."