Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) is urging a federal appeals court to overturn a three-judge panel's decision to declare an anti-sodomy law unconstitutional.

The Washington Blade reports that Cuccinelli filed a formal "petition with the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond asking the full 15-judge court to reconsider a decision by a three-judge panel last month that overturned the state's sodomy law. The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 on March 12 that a section of Virginia's 'Crimes Against Nature' statute that outlaws sodomy between consenting adults, gay or straight, is unconstitutional based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2003 known as Lawrence v. Texas."

Steve Helber / Steve Helber / AP file photo

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli speaks at a press conference Thursday, June 28, 2012.

Cuccinelli will be formally nominated as the Republican nominee in this year's governor's race by the state party at its convention May 18.

The move could potentially have repercussions for his gubernatorial bid in a state Barack Obama won in both 2008 and 2012. It also comes just as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering two cases dealing with gay rights, after the national party has urged Republicans to accept gays and lesbians, and as Senate Republicans like Rob Portman of Ohio and Mark Kirk of Illinois have announced their support for same-sex marriage.

Cuccinelli will be running against likely Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and major Bill and Hillary Clinton fundraiser, in what is sure to be one of the most closely watched races this year.

More background from the Blade:

"The March 12 ruling of the appeals court's three-judge panel overturned a lower court decision upholding the conviction of a 37-year-old man charged in 2005 with soliciting a 17-year-old woman to engage in oral sex. The Attorney General's office argued that the Supreme Court's Lawrence decision didn't apply to cases involving minors. But 4th Circuit Appeals Court Judge Robert King, who wrote the majority opinion, said the Lawrence decision rendered the Virginia sodomy statue 'facially' or completely unconstitutional. He stated other laws could be used to prosecute an adult for engaging in sex with a minor and that the Virginia General Assembly would likely have authority under the Lawrence decision to pass a new law specifically outlawing sodomy between an adult and a minor."

A spokesman for Republican Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says the governor opposes the GOP legislation that would award the state's electoral votes in presidential elections by congressional district -- instead of the current winner-take-all system.

Related: GOP looks to change the rules, not their party

"The governor does not support this legislation. He believes Virginia's existing system works just fine as it is. He does not  believe there is any need for a change," said spokesman Tucker Martin.

This opposition by McDonnell essentially kills the chances that the Electoral College change would become law in the state. In addition, another Republican state senator in Virginia today said he also was against the change.

A Super PAC supporting Democrats, Majority PAC, went up with an ad in Virginia hitting Republican Senate candidate George Allen.

“He called programs like Medicare and Social Security a waste,” an announcer says, before almost goading fact checkers. “It’s true. George Allen said: ‘Whatever the government program is -- no matter how essential it is -- it’s a waste.’”

The ad, which a Majority PAC press release says began running Tuesday night, shows Allen making those exact comments and adds, “And that’s exactly the plan George Allen will take to Washington. Slashing Medicare. Cutting Social Security. Eliminating 700,000 jobs. All to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires. Why would we send George Allen back to Washington?

But Majority PAC takes Allen out of context.

The clip is taken from a five-minute segment from FOX in 2009. The segment is about waste at the Postal Service and health care. Medicare and Social Security never come up in the conversation.

Allen does make what seems to be a sweeping statement that applies to all federal programs, but the ad draws a direct line to Medicare and Social Security when no discussion in the referenced clip was to either program.

Here’s the video, which is on Allen’s YouTube channel, and a transcript of the first two-and-a-half minutes from the Dec. 22, 2009 show with guest host Charles Payne:

PAYNE: “Well, it’s billions in the red, but still spending your green. US Postal Service caught springing for parties, movies, even booze on taxpayer money. Government watchdog identifying nearly $800,000 in “imprudent spending.” My next guest is concerned that this is just a preview of coming attractions if the government takes over health care. George Allen, former Republican governor of Virginia, joins us now. Wow! This is a—I mean, listen, the post office is losing a lot of money to begin with and yet they can spring for stuff like this?

ALLEN: Yeah, Charles, you know, most Americans recognize that whatever the government program is, no matter how essential it is, it’s a waste. There’s constant waste in it and you know, here they are eating all sort of things – expensive meals and all the rest and here, folks that are working for a living and their money is confiscated in taxes to pay for these sort of things, it’s just galling. In fact, they found they’re having crab cakes and beef wellington, meanwhile we’re all eating cupcakes and beef jerky.

PAYNE: Gollee, I can tell you, I’ve never--, George, I can tell you, I’ve never even had beef wellington before! But tell us, though, now how do you make the connection? Do you think they’re going to do the same thing with this health care?--

ALLEN: Sure—

PAYNE: --it’ll be just one giant pot of money for parties.

ALLEN: Well, I’m not saying they’re going to have parties—

PAYNE: I know—

ALLEN: --they’ll have waste in it. But what are we getting, Charles? Those of us in it. What we’re getting hit with is higher taxes; we’re getting higher premium costs; you’re seeing for the states they have unfunded mandates to it; you’re going to have generally speaking a lower standard of health care while the social engineers and these elites in Washington are imposing this on the American people. It’s something that’s going to be harmful to small business, job growth, and on top of it all of it’s an experiment, health care experiment that’s going to cost $1 trillion that we don’t have and the last thing we need is more debt for these sort of experiments. The people of America need personal responsibility and freedom, not dependency on the government.

Issues important to women have been front and center on the national stage -- and in Virginia over the past couple of months with talk of birth control, the kinds of ultrasounds women would be required to get, and personhood amendments.

And a poll out Tuesday morning shows women are fueling President Obama’s increased lead in the critical battleground.

The president is now up by eight points, 50-42 percent, over Mitt Romney in the state that could be key to whether Obama will be back for another four years in the White House, according to a Quinnipiac poll.

That’s up four points from a month ago and represents a 10-point shift from December, when Romney led 44-42 percent.

Even if Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell is added to the ticket, the president still holds a commanding 50-43 percent lead.

"President Barack Obama has opened up some daylight in Virginia against his Republican challengers," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a press release.

The difference has been women. Obama leads Romney with women, 52-39 percent. In December, Romney led with them 45-43 percent, a whopping 15-point change.

The Obama campaign has made a concerted effort to reach out to women, using the benefits of the new health-care law, for example, in mailers in swing states.

The president’s approval rating in the state is 49-47 percent, the first time he has been a net-positive since Quinnipiac started polling Virginia for this cycle last June.  Again, that’s driven by women, who approve of the president 52-43%.

With men and independents, though, the president is still a net-negative.

Kaine leads Allen in Senate race

The race for the U.S. Senate continues to be neck and neck, with former Gov. Tim Kaine leading former Sen. and Gov. George Allen by a narrow, 47-44 percent. But that’s a five-point shift from December, when Allen led 44%-42%.

Women are also backing Kaine (49-40percent) by a wider margin than men (43-46 percent). But not by quite as wide a margin as Obama.

And Kaine may have some room for improvement with black voters. African American backed Obama over Romney 94-5 percent. Kaine got 83-6 percent, so more are undecided. But, as the election nears, Kaine stands to benefit from the president’s efforts in the state, especially with black voters when he’s at the top of the ticket.

Virginia is a crucial Senate toss-up race that could determine control of the upper chamber. The open seat is currently held by retiring Democrat Jim Webb. Republicans need to take over three seats if President Obama loses reelection to win control, four if he wins.

NBC News has projected Mitt Romney the winner in Virginia, where just he and Ron Paul were on the ballot.

NBC's John Bailey notes that Romney may very well get all of Virginia's 46 delegates at stake tonight, because of how the delegates are allocated -- 33 are winner take all by congressional district; the 13 at-large delegates are proportional by statewide vote, provided a candidate gets at least 15% of the vote. But a candidate can take all of those delegates if they win a majority in the state.

To play along at home and when to expect calls and characterizations from the NBC News Elections desk, here are the final poll closing times in each state:

7:00 pm ET: Georgia, Virginia, Vermont
7:30 pm ET: North Dakota, Ohio
8:00 pm ET: Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee
9:00 pm ET: Wyoming
10:00 pm ET: Idaho
Midnight ET: Alaska

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), a potential GOP VP pick later this year, had initially signaled that he would sign into law legislation requiring a transvaginal ultrasound for those wanting an abortion in the state.

As the AP wrote last week:

Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, a socially conservative Roman Catholic, has said he will sign the ultrasound bill, but has taken no position on Marshall's personhood bill, said his spokesman J. Tucker Martin.

But McDonnell has now reversed course, saying in a just-released statement that he wants the legislation to be amended so "that no woman in Virginia will have to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound involuntarily."

More McDonnell: "I am asking the General Assembly to state in this legislation that only a transabdominal, or external, ultrasound will be required to satisfy the requirements to determine gestational age. Should a doctor determine that another form of ultrasound may be necessary to provide the necessary images and information that will be an issue for the doctor and the patient. The government will have no role in that medical decision."

UPDATED 4:45 p.m. ET

A federal judge on Friday tossed out a challenge to the constitutionality of Virginia's law governing access to the state's primary election ballot.

The ruling is a setback for the four Republican candidates who failed to qualify for the state's March 6th primary -- Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Jon Hunstsman, and Rick Santorum. 

The Virginia law contains the nation's strictest requirement for number and geographic origin of signatures.  And it specifies that petitions to gather signatures can be circulated only by Virginia residents, denying candidates the opportunity to use out-of-state volunteers.  

Federal Judge John Gibney said Friday that they challengers have a point and might have prevailed on their claim that the residency requirement for circulating petitions is unconstitutional. But he said they waited too long to raise it.
Knowing full well what the state's requirements where, he said, they nonetheless circulated petitions in accordance with the state law. "They waited until after the time to gather petitions had ended and they had lost the political ballot to be on the ballot," Gibney said.

"In essence, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair," he said. Some legal experts predicted just this outcome, because a long-standing legal doctrine bars lawsuits under such circumstances.

What's more, the judge said, the state is far along in the election process. Ordering the state now to put the challengers on the ballot "would deprive Virginia of its rights not only to conduct the primary in an orderly away but also to insist that a candidate show broad support," Gibney wrote in a legal opinion accompanying his order.

Gibney discounted the challenge to the number of signatures the state requires. But he said the candidates have a better argument regarding the ban on allowing non-Virginia residents to circulate petitions.

That provision, the judge said, "directly infringes on the First Amendment rights of candidates, voters, petition circulators, and political parties" to spread their message.

Lawyers for the four candidates said nothing after the ruling about a possible appeal, and their odds of prevailing diminish each day as deadlines come and go to prepare for the primary.

Professor Richard Hasen of the University of California at Irvine Law School, who predicted in December that the judge would conclude the claim was filed too late, said the decision at least provides a foundation if other candidates chose to take up the fight in a future election year.

"This Pyrrhic victory for Perry will help future candidates in Virginia, assuming it is upheld on appeal," Hasen said. 

Charlie Riedel / AP

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during a campaign stop at the Main Street Cafe in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Tuesday.

After failing to secure a spot in Virginia's presidential primary, the presidential campaign of Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday filed a federal court challenge to the state's stringent ballot access rules.

Perry was one of several candidates, including Newt Gingrich, who failed to gather 10,000 individual voters' signatures by Friday's deadline. 

"We believe that the Virginia provisions unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot, and we hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to Virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support," said Perry communications director Ray Sullivan in a statement. 

Perry's lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a state law that says those who circulate petitions to get a candidate on the ballot must be eligible, or registered, to vote in the state. Perry claims that requirement violates his freedom of speech and association.

He also challenges another provision of Virginia law that requires that a portion of signatures for statewide candidates must come from each congressional district in the state. Those signers must attest that they intended to vote in the primary of the candidate's political party.

Perry's campaign notes that other states' laws similar to Virginia's ban on out-of-state petition circulators have been struck down by federal courts.

One of the nation's leading experts on election law predicted tough going for Perry's challenge.

"Such a suit now faces long odds, both legally and politically," said Prof. Rick Hasen of the University of California at Irvine Schoool of law.

The initial hurdle, Hasen explained, is the failure to bring suit before filing time. "This is an emergency of Perry's (and Gingrich's) own making. Surely they knew of the requirement earlier," he said.

Hasen said the federal courts have reached mixed decisions on residency requirements for petition circulators. 

Sullivan told NBC News on Friday that the campaign planned to review "the facts and the law to determine whether an appeal or challenge is warranted." 

In a statement released to press Tuesday, the Perry campaign argued that the Virginia rules are "onerous" and deny both candidates and voters their 1st and 14th amendment rights "to meaningfully participate in the political process." 

The Virginia contest is scheduled for March 6. 

NBC News justice correspondent Pete Williams reported from Washington. NBC News correspondent Carrie Dann reported from Osceola, Iowa.