New Virginia GOP gov. nominee Cuccinelli is Tea Party favorite

Virginia's activist conservative attorney general has won the Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination by acclamation.

At the GOP's statewide convention, thousands of conservatives and tea party followers who dominated the Richmond Coliseum on Saturday roared their unanimous support for Ken Cuccinelli. He was unopposed for the nomination and is generally beloved by the tea party for his aggressive challenges to federal mandates

Cuccinelli is an abortion foe who was the first state attorney general to challenge President Barack Obama's health care reforms in 2010.

He faces former Democratic National Committee chairman and Clinton family protege Terry McAuliffe in the Nov. 5 election to become Virginia's 72nd governor.

At age 44, the father of seven becomes the youngest Republican nominee for Virginia governor since former Gov. George Allen 20 years ago.