Ken Cuccinelli has figured out that moving the goal posts in the middle of the game is the wrong thing to do.

“Virginia needs to change its ballot access requirements for our
statewide elections. However, after working through different scenarios
with Republican and Democratic leaders to attempt to make changes in
time for the 2012 Presidential election, my concern grows that we cannot
find a way to make such changes fair to the Romney and Paul campaigns
that qualified even with Virginia’s burdensome system,” Cuccinelli said
in the statement. “A further critical factor that I must consider is
that changing the rules midstream is inconsistent with respecting and
preserving the rule of law.”

After working through different scenarios.

One wonders how many of those scenarios were made clear to him by Bob Marshall. Marshall has been criticizing the idea of making voters in the primary sign a loyalty oath.  Marshall has had nothing to say publicly about the issue of changing the ballot access requirements. But there's no telling what he has had to say privately.

And the change of position has not gone unnoticed by Cuccinelli's rival for the upcoming GOP gubernatorial nomination, Bill Bolling.
"Going forward, I would also encourage Attorney General Cuccinelli to
avoid making public statements that criticize our state election laws
while his office is defending the State Board of Elections in a lawsuit
that has been brought against them by Governor Perry and certain other
presidential candidates," the statement from Bolling's office said. "I
am concerned that such public comments could be used against the
Commonwealth in our effort to defend these lawsuits, and I am confident
that the Attorney General would not want to do anything that could
jeopardize his office's ability to win this case."