Cuccinelli formally nominated for Va. governor at convention Former state senator and delegate Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (Fairfax), the wife of former congressman Tom Davis (R), was one of two candidates eliminated on the first ballot for lieutenant governor at the convention. Obenshain, of Harrisonburg, bested state Del. Robert B. Bell III (Albermarle) in a tight contest after picking up the last-minute endorsement of Cuccinelli. Obenshain won the slot 35 years after his father, Richard Obenshain, received the party's nomination for U.S. Senate at the 1978 GOP convention. Richard Obenshain was killed in a plane crash that year. On Saturday, Mark Obenshain tied his campaign to his father's legacy as the architect of the modern conservative Republican Party in Virginia, saying he was a conservative leader for a new generation. "We all have a stake in this thing called liberty," Obenshain told the cheering crowd, and he vowed to resist federal environmental regulation, the federal health-care law and changes to anti-union right-to-work laws. It is for all of us that I seek to stand shoulder to shoulder with you during the course of this campaign, to fight to take back our freedoms. Are you ready to fight? Obenshain, 50, was first elected to the state Senate in 2003, and he has championed such causes as requiring photo ID for voters, private property rights and the prevention of elder abuse. He has been in private practice as a lawyer for 26 years. If elected, he has said, he will continue to "fight federal government overreach" in the manner of Cuccinelli. In the general election, Obenshain will face either Justin Fairfax or state Sen. Mark R. Herring (Loudoun); one of them will be nominated in a June 11 Democratic primary. If Obenshain wins in November, he will become the likely Republican front-runner for the gubernatorial nomination in 2017, based on recent party history. Cuccinelli will face Democrat Terry McAuliffe in this fall's high-profile gubernatorial contest, one of only two races for governor this year. In his address to the eager crowd at the convention center in Richmond, Cuccinelli presented the race as a clear choice: "[D]o we want a governor who will say anything and do anything to get elected? Or a governor with a history of fighting for Virginians with principled, conservative, straightforward leadership? Cuccinelli echoed frequent GOP contentions: that McAuliffe lacks a firm understanding of the commonwealth and that McAuliffe's "only deep and abiding belief about Virginia is that he should be its governor." Cuccinelli portrayed his own record through a lens of compassion, drawing a line from his expressed support for the underdog to his opposition to abortion. "Our commitment also includes fighting for the innocent who languish in prison because no one will hear their plea and caring for Virginians who struggle with mental illness," Cuccinelli said. It also means defending those at both ends of life - protecting the elderly from abuse as well as the unborn. We should encourage a deep and abiding respect for all human life. As he did in his book, "The Last Line of Defense," Cuccinelli spoke about his legal fights against President Obama's health-care law and against the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The McAuliffe campaign denounced Cuccinelli's speech. "Cuccinelli's deep and abiding belief has always been in his own divisive social agenda that aims to ban birth control and abortion even in cases of rape and incest," McAuliffe spokesman Brennan Bilberry said. In a speech designed to elicit cheers from only the tea party, Cuccinelli doubled down on that extreme agenda and reminded Virginians of his efforts to drive mainstream Republicans out of the Party. Meanwhile, the contest for lieutenant governor was undecided Saturday evening Davis and state Sen. Stephen H. Martin (Chesterfield) were eliminated on the first ballot, which was won by Chesapeake minister E.W. Jackson, a former U.S. Senate candidate. Jackson was followed by Susan B. Stimpson, chairman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors; Corey A. Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors; businessman Pete Snyder; and Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (Prince William). Two more candidates were to be eliminated on the second ballot, and then the next two ballots - if necessary - would remove one candidate each until someone received a majority of the votes. On Sunday, the three nominees are scheduled to begin a three-day statewide fly-around with stops in Virginia Beach and Fairfax. Laura Vozzella contributed to this report.