The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Gingrich Misses Virginia Ballot, Too

Posted on | December 24, 2011 | 83 Comments

This was pending late last night, but now has been confirmed: Like Rick Perry — and Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum — Newt Gingrich failed to submit enough eligible signatures to qualify for the March 6 Virginia Republican primary. That leaves Virginia voters to choose between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Irony?

A poll released Wednesday showed Gingrich with a slight lead over Romney among Virginia Republicans in the race for president. The Quinnipiac University poll shows Gingrich at 30 percent and Romney at 25 percent among Republican voters.

Leading the poll. Not on the ballot.

UPDATE: Extra embarrassment for Newt? He actually left the campaign trail in Iowa this week to return to Virginia for two days in an attempt to make the ballot — a costly and, as it proved, futile waste of time.

And Newt lives in Virginia.

UPDATE II: Just dawned on me — all the “Anybody But Romney” voters in Virginia will have only one choice on March 6.

“Ihese stooges don’t scare me!”

UPDATE III: Linking Politico (not me), Ed Morrissey gets it wrong:

Bachmann and Santorum don’t have the resources to put people on the ground in Virginia; they’re both sinking everything they have into Iowa.  I don’t think anyone expected them to qualify for the Virginia ballot.

But as I explained Thursday, Santorum did have an effort afoot in Virginia to get on the ballot. I was on the grassroots conference call at which that effort was discussed and a top Santorum staffer said they were “hoping for a Christmas miracle” in Virginia.

Another “Christmas miracle” would be if my friends like Ed would actually bother to read my blog once in a while.

Also, I hope Santa brings me a pony. That could happen.

So anyway, the reason the Santorum campaign didn’t submit signatures is that they fell short of the 10,000 minimum, whereas the Perry and Gingrich campaigns cleared the 10,000 mininum but were rejected during the validation process. As the state elections board says, some petition signatures are always invalidated, so to get 10,000 minimum (including at least 400 in each of the 11 congressional districts), they recommned getting at least 15,000 signatures statewide, with at least 600 in each district.

As I also explained Thursday, it was obvious the moment the numbers were announced that Gingrich and Perry, with about 11,000-12,000 signatures each, might take a hit in the validation process. But nobody important can be bothered to read this blog. IYKWIMAITYD.

UPDATE IV: And just in case anyone was wondering: No, Virginia rules do not allow write-in votes in a primary campaign.

Category: Election 2012, Newt Gingrich, Virginia

Comments

83 Responses to “Gingrich Misses Virginia Ballot, Too”

  1. Anonymous
    December 24th, 2011 @ 3:10 pm

    You are entitled to your opinion but I would suggest some Windex and a squeegee for your belly button.

  2. Adjoran
    December 24th, 2011 @ 3:37 pm

    Bullspit.  The only change was to waive verification over 15K, which any candidate could have done, starting July 1st.  Paul had already submitted his signatures and enough were verified before the deadline (as he has done in the past with an LP base in VA).

  3. Adjoran
    December 24th, 2011 @ 3:38 pm

    Alan Keyes made it in 2000 under tougher rules, as did Kucinich in 2008.  If your candidate is less qualified and has less support than those guys, well . . .  what can I say?

  4. Adjoran
    December 24th, 2011 @ 3:40 pm

    You make accusations and insinuations out of whole cloth.  This is dishonest.

  5. Adjoran
    December 24th, 2011 @ 3:44 pm

    I should correct some earlier statements.  The rules HAVE changed in Virginia, in 2010.  They got EASIER to meet, as the requirement for SSN was made optional (although it still helps verify if you get the last 4 digits).

    Also, the GOP gave the candidates ALL the chance to avoid the problem by getting the MINIMUM RECOMMENDED number of signatures, 15,000 with 600 from each congressional district.  They had since July 1st. 

    Alan Keyes qualified in 2000 and Denis Kucinich made it in 2008 under the tougher rules.

    Gingrich is now threatening a “write in campaign.”  What an idiot!  Virginia doesn’t permit write-in votes in party primaries.  As I’ve always said, Newt is the average person’s idea of what an intelligent person sounds like.  Supporting him is just “Big Bang Theory” politics (the show, not the actual theory).

  6. Proof
    December 24th, 2011 @ 3:51 pm

    Pity the poor Virginian Republicans! If their only two choices are Romney and Paul, Dante needs to update his Inferno.

  7. ThePaganTemple
    December 24th, 2011 @ 4:31 pm

    Nope. The message I want to send is, “We the majority of Republican voters do not want Mitt Romney”. If Paul wins that will get that message across loud and clear.

    Of course they’re so stupid they still won’t get it. They’ll probably start talking bullshit about a brokered convention and a “compromise” candidate. And no doubt the names you’ll see floated will include Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, and Chris Christie, same bullshit different day.

  8. Pathfinder's wife
    December 24th, 2011 @ 4:40 pm

    It really does leave little question, doesn’t it?  Just wish people would sit back, take a deep breathe, and realize that (this would be in response to the Perry and Gingrich supporters).

    It doesn’t appear as though there was any grand conspiracy, wish some would quit trying to push that meme.

  9. Pathfinder's wife
    December 24th, 2011 @ 4:45 pm

    That leads to not good things down the road — would you be saying the same thing if it was the Democrats with this problem and people were calling to bend the rules to let, say, Pelosi get on the ballot?

    These rules were known — much as I hate the idea of so few number of canidates on the ballot, those rules were known (and I honestly don’t see Bachmann, Huntsman, or Santorum throwing tizzies about this….they might if Gingrich and Perry are allowed back on the ballot though).

  10. Pathfinder's wife
    December 24th, 2011 @ 4:51 pm

    Repeat after me: it’s just one primary (yes, it’s an important one, but only one).  If anything this should encourage the canidates that seriously want to be in the game to go out and not make that mistake again.

    If VA throws in for Paul, I’d expect the other canidates to stay in a bit longer — any weakeness out of Romney will be seen as encouraging (so the “not Romney” supporters can still get another shot at it); if VA throws in for Romney, well, that means they didn’t pick Ron Paul (so the Republicans can breathe easier about their party going with a guy they detest).  And, and: any seeming confusion in the ranks of the GOP also doesn’t help out the Democrats, who will have to cover every base for a while longer (there are advantages to not having a canidate picked until the last possible second if people don’t get panicky).

    See? Not the end of the world.  Popcorn?

  11. Daily scoreboard « Don Surber
    December 24th, 2011 @ 5:19 pm

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  12. ThePaganTemple
    December 24th, 2011 @ 5:23 pm

    I never said a word about bending the rules or changing them. I’m just saying candidates should be able to challenge the results. That doesn’t seem to be so out of line to me. If the findings turn out to justify the exclusions, so be it.

  13. Pathfinder's wife
    December 24th, 2011 @ 6:11 pm

    If a canidate does sincerely believe that they have the prerequisite amount and everything is in order, then by all means they should challenge the results — but it sounds as though both didn’t (otherwise Gingrich should quit it with the threatening a write in campaign, which is not possible in VA, and all that — he should have known better especially since he lives there).

  14. Anonymous
    December 24th, 2011 @ 6:28 pm

    Make your argument or go fly a kite.

    Maybe I should just quit feeding the troll…

  15. Anonymous
    December 24th, 2011 @ 6:39 pm

    Adjoran is several things, including annoying, but he’s no troll. Heck, he’s been here longer than you have from what I’ve seen.

  16. Anonymous
    December 24th, 2011 @ 6:41 pm

    Actually, they can challenge the results; there’s a date in Feb(?) where they can do that.

  17. Proof
    December 24th, 2011 @ 6:48 pm

    No, not the end of the world, but kinda hard to make the best of a bad situation there. I’d feel a little cheated if I was there and couldn’t even write in a candidate I liked better.

  18. Robert Birch
    December 24th, 2011 @ 6:49 pm

    Well, apparently the answer is obvious. Ron Paul is less of liar and an idiot than the other candidates, somehow his supporters find that to be a very admirable.  

  19. Finrod Felagund
    December 24th, 2011 @ 7:06 pm

    Virginia has its heads up its collective asses if it thinks that it’s such an important state that candidates have to sink a ton of time and money to meet their onerous requirements just to get on their  ballot, time and money that they could be spending in Iowa and New Hampshire instead.

    I hope Ron Paul wins Virginia just to drive this point home.
     

  20. Ericdondero
    December 24th, 2011 @ 8:58 pm

    Why thank you for the compliment Tom.  And yes, I am freezing my ass off. 
     

  21. Dave C
    December 25th, 2011 @ 12:06 am

    I got nothing.

  22. Dave C
    December 25th, 2011 @ 12:08 am

    Either be on that phone or have your CM be on the phone to whoever is your guy in that particular state, asking “How many signatures did you get today?” 

  23. Dave C
    December 25th, 2011 @ 12:15 am

    Not doubting you but where did you find the rules for the primary here in VA? 

  24. Joe
    December 25th, 2011 @ 8:54 am

    I really wouldn’t vote for someone so disorganized anyway. This is not Newt’s first failure this year getting on the ballot. He failed in Missouri, In Ohio on the first try, and in NH for full slate ofdelegates and in a few counties as well.

    Newt’s poll numbers, in my opinion are media generated. He has no ground support or a real strong base of fire in the belly supporters, which is needed to win the general. The only candidate or politician like that was Sarah Palin and of course Ron Paul in this election cycle.

    As a Palin supporter, I’m going to have to move to Paul’s corner. During the last month or so I have found myself agreeing with him more on foreign policy than not. For example, little reported news story from other day showing Israel shipping top secret Patriot Missles to Red China. Our foreign policy needs reworked.

    As far as economics, Paul is the best, maybe the best in over 100 years and if we can’t stop this country from going broke, all this blogging will be a waste of time anyway.

  25. Joe
    December 25th, 2011 @ 8:59 am

    Newt missed Missouri and then Ohio on first chance, not sure Newt will make Ohio on second try (it’s harder)

  26. Pathfinder's wife
    December 25th, 2011 @ 10:21 am

    Then you don’t vote for the presidential nominee  in protest.  If the turnout is low it will help neither Romney or Paul, and will likely be reported by the press.

    Although, to be honest, the only people who cheated the Virginia voters were Gingrich and Perry (and possibly Bachman, although I don’t think she planned on hitting VA to much; the others just don’t have the war chest or the ground game, so fair enough).

  27. Pathfinder's wife
    December 25th, 2011 @ 10:25 am

    Are you talking about the missles picked up in Finland?  If so, then they came from Germany (last I heard) and were older models (so nothing the Chinese haven’t already most likely seen) bound for S. Korea by way of Shanghai.

    But yeah, the Israelis have sold stuff to China — no such thing as bffs in realpolitik.  To their favor, they don’t usually sell them the really really good stuff — and everybody has a right to put their bling bling up on the market.

  28. Mike Rogers
    December 25th, 2011 @ 1:57 pm

    I do read the blog, I watch the happenings, and I can’t believe that both Newt and Perry managed to get disqualified – just how picky are the VA GOP? Can we get them to man the polling stations next November and reject Democrat stooges?

  29. Mike Rogers
    December 25th, 2011 @ 2:03 pm

    A few fringe candidates are good for local color. Andy Karger, for comic relief, for example.
    In the UK, we had the pleasure of Screaming Lord Sutch and the Raving Loony Party in many elections – had about as much chance as the Libertarians here, but it was a lot of fun:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screaming_Lord_Sutch

  30. zaq001
    December 25th, 2011 @ 8:05 pm

    What a load of crap you have been spouting.  First you say the rules haven’t changed in 30 years.  Then you say Kucinich and Keyes made it under tougher rules in 2000 and 2008.  Either it’s one way or the other, but you cannot have it both.

    Secondly, I could care less who you think is less qualified and has less support.  Neither is likely the case.  It all comes down to $$ and resources.  The reality is that 5 of 7 candidates are not on the ballot…..That speaks volumes about the “flaws and bias” in the system.

  31. Anonymous
    December 25th, 2011 @ 8:48 pm

    http://www.varight.com/news/virginia-may-have-improperly-excluded-signatures-from-perry-gingrich-a-recount-may-be-needed/

  32. ThePaganTemple
    December 26th, 2011 @ 6:29 am

    Virginia might very well be as important as it thinks it is this election. It might actually be the state that decides the election. But that makes this situation all the more maddening.

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