RICHMOND, VA, October 21, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A political arm of the nation’s biggest abortion provider has spent nearly all of its cash on ads opposing Republican Ken Cuccinelli, the strongly pro-life candidate for Virginia governor.

On Friday, Planned Parenthood VOTES, a federal SuperPAC run by the abortion giant, reported it had spent nearly $1.1 million on a new anti-Cuccinelli ad buy, leaving the PAC with only $73,746 to pay its remaining bills, which total $59,919.

Planned Parenthood has worked closely with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe throughout the campaign, producing ads and mailings branding Cuccinelli an extremist for his pro-life views and his determination to end public funding of the abortion group. The Virginia governor’s race has garnered significant attention from Planned Parenthood, whose president, Cecile Richards, has called Cuccinelli’s defeat her “top priority.” 

One mailing called Cuccinelli “extremely dangerous for women” because he fought for restrictions on abortion-on-demand as attorney general, and as a state senator voted to overturn then-Democratic Governor Mark Warner's veto of the partial birth abortion ban.  He also drafted Virginia’s parental consent law, led efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and demanded the state's abortion facilities meet the same health standards as other surgical centers.  “Ken is way out there,” the mailing warned. 

But according to Cuccinelli spokeswoman Anna Nix, it is McAuliffe who is the true extremist, for supporting “taxpayer funded abortions, abortion up to the moment of birth, and abortion for sex selection.” 

Planned Parenthood also paired up with McAuliffe to launch a website, “Keep Ken Out,” devoted toattacking the Republican candidate for his pro-life views.

“Access to safe and legal abortion, and even contraception, would be at risk in a Cuccinelli Administration,” the website claims. “The future of Virginia women’s health hangs in the balance, that’s why we’re going to make sure voters know exactly how out-of-touch he is, and why we need to keep Ken out of the governor’s office.”

The abortion giant’s newest ad offensive will infuse fresh out-of-state cash into the final weeks of a campaign that was already flush with it, at least on the Democratic side.  As a former Clinton fundraiser and Democratic National Committee Chairman, Terry McAuliffe has access to many of the deepest pockets on the political Left, and he hasn’t been shy about cashing in on those connections.  McAuliffe has outpaced Cuccinelli in fundraising by nearly double.  Nearly three-quarters of his vast $25 million war chest came from out-of-state.

But even without McAuliffe’s deep political reach, this is a race that likely would have attracted significant national involvement. In an off year when high profile political races are few and far between, Washington insiders see an opportunity in Virginia – which, like the nation, is fairly evenly split between red and blue – to send a message to the rest of the country.

In an attempt to raise his national profile, Cuccinelli gave the weekly Republican address this week, calling the Obamacare rollout “a national embarrassment.”

“Let me be plain, the law that carries the president’s name is the hallmark of a reckless federal government that has lost its way,” Cuccinelli said in his address, and reminded viewers that he was the first state attorney general to challenge Obamacare’s constitutionality. 

The attorney general also opposes the HHS mandate, an Obamacare provision requiring employers to provide full, copay-free coverage for contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-causing drugs.

“Everywhere you look, there’s more evidence that Obamacare was fundamentally broken even before it started,” Cuccinelli said.

The pro-life candidate is hoping to rally social- and small-government conservatives nationwide to carry his candidacy through the final weeks of a relentless onslaught of campaign spending by thewell-heeled social liberals who are financing his opponent’s efforts.

Victoria Cobb, president of the Virginia-based Family Foundation, told LifeSiteNews.com in February that with Virginia in the spotlight, Cuccinelli will need his grassroots supporters to dig deep to have any chance of winning against McAuliffe’s well-oiled, well-fueled political machine.

That out-of-state pressure “should serve as a reminder of just how important this year’s elections in Virginia are going to be. Because only Virginia has a potentially competitive statewide race, national interest groups are going to spend millions of dollars to influence the outcome,” said Cobb.