Our editorial staff, much like the readers we serve and our community as a whole, is a group of individuals whose political beliefs fall along a fairly diverse spectrum. And, much like the readers we serve and our community as a whole, we have reached our breaking point with the 2013 gubernatorial campaign.

To call the contest between Terry McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli a negative campaign would at this point be an insult to negative campaigns. Both sides have lowered themselves to a place that exists beneath the mud, perfectly content to squirm around in the muck there for months. So detestable has this contest been, that in a Monday editorial The Richmond Times-Dispatch revealed it would not endorse either of the aforementioned candidates or the libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis. In the case of Sarvis, the Times-Dispatch merely cited his lack of experience or preparation for the job. In the case of McAuliffe and Cuccinelli, the laundry list of questionable policy stances and smarmy campaign tactics made it clear no endorsement was possible.

While McAuliffe and Cuccinelli represent the worst of what politics has become, the unintended consequences of their petty and small-minded campaigns have produced something almost unthinkable in today’s toxic, win-at-all-costs political arena; both Democrats and Republicans alike agree that neither of these candidates is worthy of four years in the governor’s mansion. Were The Tidewater News in the business of offering endorsements, which we have historically not been, we likely would have beaten the Times-Dispatch to the punch in not endorsing either.