RICHMOND 
 
 Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was reminded of the political pitfalls of social media Wednesday when Twitter and some online news sites went wild over a tweet he sent about the death of Osama bin Laden. 
 
 "How much would I give to be one of the 72 Virginans Osama is 'hanging out' with since Sunday?" Cuccinelli wrote. 
 
 The attorney general was referring to a joke about bin Laden's death that's made the rounds on the Internet. It places bin Laden at the gates of heaven, taking drubbing after drubbing from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Patrick Henry, among others. 
 
 As they're about to send him to the underworld, bin Laden screams, "This is not what I was promised!" An angel replies, "I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you. What did you think I said?" 
 
 The joke apparently wasn't as well-known as Cuccinelli thought, and his misspelling of "Virginian" didn't help. 
 
 A Huffington Post writer seized on the tweet. 
 
 "Is Cuccinelli a virgin, or was he - perhaps more disturbingly - shooting for 'Virginians' with this tweet?" Jason Linkins wrote on the news site, guessing Cuccinelli might have been wishing he'd been part of the Virginia Beach-based Navy SEAL unit credited with taking out bin Laden in Pakistan. 
 
 "But this would be an odd way of communicating that desire," Linkins added. "At any rate, until I hear otherwise, I'm just going to assume that Ken Cuccinelli wants to make love to Osama bin Laden in hell." 
 
 Linkins later discovered the Virginians joke and posted an update with a link to it. 
 
 Cuccinelli also tried to clarify with a follow-up: "It seems some were confused by my earlier tweet. Read it closely:... 72 Virginians... " 
 
 Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com ||||| I'm really not sure if this is an example of a bit of tweet-snark gone terribly awry, or maybe an account that's been hacked, but Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has sent one of the strangest tweets ever in response to the death of infamous terrorist Osama bin Laden. 
 
 How much would I give to be one of the 72 Virginans Osama is 'hanging out' with since Sunday? Ken Cuccinelli 
 
 KenCuccinelli 
 
 For real: what is going on here? Why is Cuccinelli going all Mitch Albom on Osama bin Laden? Does he really want to service bin Laden, sexually, in the great beyond? Maybe he plans to give the dead terrorist the "blue balls?" And is Cuccinelli a virgin, or was he -- perhaps more disturbingly -- shooting for "Virginians" with this tweet? It's possible that Cuccinelli is trying to say that he wishes he had been part of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, more informally known as "SEAL Team Six," who conducted the raid on bin Laden's compound and who are garrisoned in Virginia at the Naval Air Station's Dam Neck Annex. But this would be an odd way of communicating that desire. 
 
 At any rate, until I hear otherwise, I'm just going to assume that Ken Cuccinelli wants to make love to Osama bin Laden in hell. Keep calm and carry on! 
 
 UPDATE: 10:43 AM -- It may be that Cuccinelli is referencing a (very poorly written) joke. In which case, here are some suggestions for "best practices" on Twitter. First, it's "Virginians." Second, you might want to include a link to the joke in your tweet, so that people don't think you've taken complete leave of your senses. 
 
 Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here. ||||| Democrat Terry McAuliffe has opened up a significant lead over Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the Virginia governor’s race amid broad public disapproval of the federal government shutdown, according to a POLITICO poll of the 2013 gubernatorial election. 
 
 McAuliffe, the former national Democratic Party chairman, is now 9 points ahead of Cuccinelli, the current state attorney general, in a race that also includes Libertarian nominee Robert Sarvis. In the survey, McAuliffe drew support from 44 percent of Virginians versus 35 percent for Cuccinelli and 12 percent for Sarvis. 
 
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 reset Virginia gov race poll analysis Mike Allen analysis 
 
 Four weeks from Election Day, McAuliffe also leads Cuccinelli in a one-on-one contest, 52 percent to 42 percent. 
 
 The POLITICO poll, conducted by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling and Republican firm Harper Polling using automated survey methodology, is the first snapshot of the Virginia race to take into account the impact of the closure of the federal government. The survey tested 1,150 likely voters Oct. 5- 6 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. 
 
 (WATCH: Virginia governor race poll analysis) 
 
 For much of the year, the Virginia race has been an exercise in mutual annihilation between two unpopular candidates, a dynamic that held up in this poll: Nearly half of likely Virginia voters — 49 percent — have an unfavorable opinion of McAuliffe while 39 percent said they have a favorable opinion. 
 
 Mirroring a trend in other recent public polls, Cuccinelli’s favorability numbers are worse: Only 34 percent of voters viewed him favorably, and a 56 percent majority viewed him unfavorably. 
 
 Sarvis is largely unknown, and his support could fade from the 12 percent mark before Election Day. Only 43 percent of respondents had an opinion of the third-party candidate with slightly more viewing him unfavorably, at 23 percent, than favorably, 20 percent. 
 
 (PHOTOS: Ken Cuccinelli’s career) 
 
 The major curve ball in the Virginia race, however, is the government shutdown, which is now entering its second week and could be expected to have an outsize impact in a state with such a large population of both civilian and military government employees. McAuliffe has led Cuccinelli in the mid-single digits in both public and private polling; his margin is wider in the POLITICO poll, and the shutdown is the most obvious explanation for that. 
 
 Both McAuliffe and Cuccinelli have spoken out against the shutdown. The Democrat has run ads tying Cuccinelli to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the so-called defund Obamacare champion, while Cuccinelli has accused McAuliffe of risking a shutdown in Richmond with his give-no-quarter support for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. 
 
 They have good reason to run in that direction: A full 62 percent of poll respondents said they oppose the government “shutting down over funding for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.” Thirty-one percent said they support the shutdown. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Virginia governor race 2013: Shutdown roils contest) 
 
 Of the Virginia voters who oppose the shutdown, nearly two-thirds — 64 percent — support McAuliffe while 16 percent support Cuccinelli, and 12 percent back Sarvis. Shutdown supporters prefer Cuccinelli over McAuliffe, 73 percent to 10 percent with 11 percent for Sarvis. 
 
 National Republicans take the greater share of blame from Virginians for the lights-out moment in Washington: Fifty percent of respondents said they blame Republicans in Congress most for the shutdown while 35 percent said they primarily blame President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats. Fifteen percent of likely voters in the poll said they blame both sides equally. 
 
 Democratic and Republican voters largely pin the blame on the other party, but independent voters blame congressional Republicans over Obama and Senate Democrats, 48 percent to 33 percent. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Shutdown puts Virginia’s GOP in a vise) 
 
 Cruz, who boosted Cuccinelli at a conservative event in Richmond last weekend, is an unpopular figure in Virginia. He was viewed unfavorably by 45 percent of poll respondents while 26 percent had a favorable opinion of the Texas Republican. 
 
 The Cuccinelli campaign, which has regularly criticized PPP during the 2013 race, said in a statement that it flatly discounts the results of the poll and asserted that the race is closing. “We reject the findings within this poll. One of the polling outfits that conducted this survey has been exposed by a number of neutral news outlets for withholding poll numbers that were unhelpful to its Democratic friends,” spokesman Richard Cullen said. “Ken is the only serious candidate in this race who will fight for Virginia and has a plan to create 58,000 new jobs.” 
 
 McAuliffe press secretary Josh Schwerin cited Cuccinelli’s event with Cruz over the weekend to argue that the race is moving in the Democrats’ direction: “The more voters learn, the more they side with Terry’s bipartisan focus on jobs and against Cuccinelli’s divisive focus on tea party priorities.” 
 
 (PHOTOS: 25 unforgettable Obamacare quotes) 
 
 For national Republicans already anxious about the shutdown, the poll underscores the extent to which the clash between Obama and House Republicans has hobbled the GOP’s ability to communicate with voters about anything else, including the Affordable Care Act, which prompted the Republicans’ “defund” push to begin with. 
 
 In recent weeks, Cuccinelli has blasted Obamacare in speeches and TV ads, and Virginians seem to share at least some of his skepticism about the national health care law. Asked how they would rate the implementation of the ACA based on what they have heard so far, 60 percent of respondents gave a rating of “fair” (18 percent) or “poor” (42 percent) while only 36 percent said either “good” (25 percent) or “excellent” (11 percent). 
 
 And Obama’s personal job approval in the state is tepid at just 45 percent positive and 49 percent negative.
– Virginia's attorney general learned all about the dangers of Twitter yesterday, when he sent out a tweet that made at least one writer think he wanted to "service bin Laden, sexually, in the great beyond." The offending tweet from Ken Cuccinelli: "How much would I give to be one of the 72 Virginans Osama is 'hanging out' with since Sunday?" Of course, some assumed he meant "virgins," which led to quite an uproar, reports the Virginian-Pilot. "Is Cuccinelli a virgin, or was he—perhaps more disturbingly—shooting for 'Virginians' with this tweet?" wondered Jason Linkins on the Huffington Post. Turns out Cuccinelli was, in fact, aiming for "Virginians," in reference to a joke that went around the Internet recently. (Think bin Laden being greeted after death by 72 such names as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, rather than the virgins he expected—read the entire joke here.) Cuccinelli quickly clarified his tweet, and even spelled Virginians correctly the second time around—but apparently didn't pick up on his initial typo.