Cuccinelli manager snags national award for campaigning

When Ken Cuccinelli (R) announced he was running for attorney general, there were many skeptics who doubted he had much of a shot at the office. But now he's four months on the job and generating national headlines along the way. And the woman who helped get him elected? She just got named a "rising star" by a big national campaign magazine.

Meredith Quillen, who managed Cuccinelli's run for attorney general and has either run or consulted for each of his previous campaigns for office, was one of 41 political operatives to get the title from Campaign & Elections Politics Magazine.

The award is reserved for political consultants, campaigners or advocates under age 35 and went to 15 Democrats, 15 Republicans and 11 nonpartisans. She'll get a write-up in the magazine's June issue and be featured at a seminar on the "Art of Political Campaigning."

According to Noah Wall, Cuccinelli's political director, "no one knows grassroots campaigning like Meredith - when it comes to running a campaign on a tight budget, she's the best." Cucceinlli tweeted his congrats fo Quillen this morning: "Truth is, she's not 'rising,' she's been a star awhile now!"

At least one other Virginian made the list, Ford O'Connell, president of Project Virginia, a Republican political action committee.