The Sunset Of Ultrasound Bob

Rumors are flying furiously -- and mind you, these are still rumors until confirmed -- that Virginia GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell will resign as part of a plea bargain deal over revelations involving gifts from a wealthy donor.

A Democratic state senator on Tuesday called on Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) to detail and return all gifts given to members of his family by a prominent donor — or resign from office.

State Sen. J. Chapman Petersen (Fairfax) became the first elected official in either party to raise the possibility that the governor should resign over the gifts.

In a letter to the governor, Petersen wrote that revelations about gifts provided by dietary supplement manufacturer Jonnie R. Williams Sr. gave “the strong impression that your family was materially and systematically benefited by this person and his company.”

“In return, it appears you allowed this person to use the Governor’s Mansion and the Governor’s Office for the purpose of giving unique credibility to his company,” Petersen wrote in the letter. “That is unacceptable.”

Petersen wrote that if the governor can’t explain or deny the reports or return the items, he would “humbly suggest” that McDonnell step down.

That gave way to the story from a Virginia tea party website that McDonnell is cutting a deal, something loudly being denied by McDonnell's office.

Responding to questions posed late Saturday on social networking site Twitter, Gov. Bob McDonnell’s communications director denied a report posted by conservative blog Bearing Drift that the governor is resigning.

“It is false,” Tucker Martin wrote.

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, also took to Twitter early Sunday morning in response to rumors that swirled there, writing: “Gov. Bob McDonnell is NOT resigning. I have checked. That is official. Irresponsible rumors are wrong.”

He also posted: “I normally ignore a rumor. But it's so widespread tonite I sought and received official permission to post this.”

On Saturday, Bearing Drift published a post claiming McDonnell would resign, citing two unnamed sources.

Now the story is getting interesting.  McDonnell's in no small amount of trouble here, and given that the race to replace him is heating up big time and Republican candidate (and current state AG) Ken Cuccinelli may have ties to the same donors, well, the longer this story stays front and center in Virginia, the better it is for the Dems.  Any plea deal would have to be run by Cuccinelli too as the state's top prosecutor.

We'll see how it goes.  Personally, I think the wild card here is current Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who Cuccinelli beat out for the shot at his boss's office.  Should be an interesting couple of days in the Commonwealth.