BY BEN JOHNSON

McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee who is now running for governor against pro-life stalwart Ken Cuccinelli, said he will take executive action to sidestep the requirements on behalf of subpar abortion facilities.

Reviewing the circumstances of abortion facilities in the Old Dominion, he said, “Norfolk is closed.Fairfax is closed, or closing, so there will be 18 [abortion facilities] left.”

“Only one of those 18 actually meet the requirements, so they'll all close” without an assist from a friendly governor.

“I will issue what's called a guidance opinion by mid-March ,” he said, “to grandfather in those remaining clinics to keep them open.”

“That's why this election is so important, and I will do that." he vowed.

Steve Rossie of the Virginia-based Family Foundation said that McAuliffe “has made clear during the campaign that he opposes the standards, enabled as part of a bipartisan law passed during the 2011 General Assembly, but this is the first time he has said he will repeal or alter them Barack-Obama-style by some type of executive action without legislative approval.”

He calls the promise “reckless,” especially in light of Kermit Gosnell, who routinely flouted Pennsylvania state law and health standards that had not been enforced under multiple administrations.

“Remember, it was then-Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge who ignored the law in that state requiring abortion center inspections that allowed Gosnell to go unnoticed for years, harming untold numbers of women and children,” Rossie said.

According to the group Women Speak Out, “the Virginia Health Commissioner reported to the Board of Health that more than 80 violations were discovered in abortion centers.”

The Virginia showdown, now seven weeks away, is considered the most important race in the nation, and a possible precusor of how the state will vote in the 2016 presidential election.

Polls show McAuliffe with a modest edge.

However, he enjoys a significant advantage in fundraising. The former DNC chairman has extensive contacts around the country, as well as deep ties to the Clinton family.

Former President Clinton sent McAuliffe $100,000 from his own funds.

Tom Steyer, a California-based billionaire and environmentalist activist, has spent $400,000 for attack ads against Cuccinelli.

McAuliffe met earlier this month with retiring New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Independent billionaire who favors abortion-on-demand, gay “marriage,”nanny state health regulations, and gun control.

The abortion lobby long ago cast its lot with McAuliffe. Planned Parenthood teamed up with McAuliffeto launch the attack website, Keep Ken Out.

McAuliffe and his allies have used pro-abortion donations to finance an ad accusing Cuccinelli of waging a “war on abortion” and a mass mailing accusing the attorney general of being “way out there.”

Most recently, NARAL Virginia released undercover audio of a volunteer purportedly catching crisis pregnancy centers staff telling “lies” to pregnant women, although Adam Cassandra of Human Life International notes that the audio “contains zero falsehoods.”

Cuccinelli has earned the abortion industry's ire, voting to overturn then-Democratic Governor Mark Warner's veto of the partial birth abortion ban, drafting the state's parental consent law, leading efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and insisting the state's abortion facilities meet the same health standards as other surgical centers.

Last April, the state attorney general said that LifeSiteNews.com is "the homepage for one of the computers in our house" at a fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C.

He explained to Tony Perkins on AFR Talk Thursday afternoon that the importance of the race is that it will be “the first step back for conservatives if we can win in 2013, as we head toward 2014.”

In the midterm elections, Republicans hope to retain control of the House and take back the U.S. Senate.

But Cuccinelli said, although many people wish him well, significant financial “support hasn't been there.”

“I could really use the help at Cuccinelli.com,” he said.