KiI is right - get involved in your local county central committee and Tea Party/912ers well before the signature deadline and cultivate some workers. I have never heard of central committees themselves getting a candidate’s signatures so it will be up to you or your campaign chair to organize that. Have your team ready to hit the ground running.
Know the ‘drop-dead’ date for turning those in and give yourself at least 3 months before that to start collecting them if possible. Iowa has official signature petitions you can download and print. Those must be used to be legit. Your state may differ. Iowa’s deadline for most offices is March. Make sure you get extras.
You can get voter lists from your secretary of state to identify GOP households for a target-rich signature environment. Always make your effort the most productive and efficient as possible.
And as EDINVA says, it’s hard to start at the top. Some states you can do that. I’ve seen it done here in Iowa, VA strikes me as more difficult. I would definitely not take on a bigger race than what you can handle and conceivably win. A statewide race will be tough and exhausting.
Free Vulacn, in VA, earlier in the year there was a “Tea Party” candidate who was going to challenge George Allen for the GOP Senate nomination. Total unknown. Don’t know where she is now, but Allen is the nominee.
Even current sitting D Senator Mark Warner used his vast fortune to build name recognition. Years ago (it wasn’t ‘94 as I previously stated; that year was Ollie North v Chuck Robb) he ran against John Warner. Mark Warner knew he had not the proverbial snowball’s chance to win, but he sure did establish name ID and was ready to go when John Warner retired. It’s a very tough state to win statewide.