Posted on 12/22/2011 6:14:28 PM PST by TBBT
That’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that Perry and Gingrich, either one of whom could still become the Great Grassroots Hope against Romney, might not have qualified either. You need 10,000 signatures to make the ballot but 15,000 are recommended since a bunch are bound to be thrown out as false or duplicative as the petitions are scrutinized. You also need at least 600 signatures from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts. Romney submitted 16,026 and Ron Paul submitted 14,361. Perry’s total: 11,911. Gingrich’s: 11,050. If they end up getting bounced, the Republican primary ballot for one of America’s key swing states will consist exclusively of … Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
*snip*
Larry Sabato expects the state GOP will turn a “blind eye” to any signature problems on Perry’s or Gingrich’s petitions. I’ll bet. Question for political junkies, then: How could Bachmann, Huntsman, and Santorum have failed this epically? Is it a simple matter of lacking the resources to put people in the field collecting signatures or is it a sign of deep organizational dysfunction that should rightly disqualify them from the race?
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
With the exposing, this week, of his Newsletters from the ‘90s that espoused Anti-Semitism, racism, anti-gay and anti-government rants Ron Paul will not go very far. He might not make it to VA. His name will be on the ballot, but he’ll be out of it. Not to worry.
Bachmann, Santorum, Fail. Sorry. You are out of here, please resign so we can get a real conservative to win in Iowa?In fairness, most would say those two are "real conservatives".
Interesting. So, fellow FReepers, in a contest between Willard and Ron Paul, who would you vote for?
I’m from Virginia, I registered as a Virginian, I’m on his mailing list, and I wrote his campaign to tell them I’d sign a petition.
And the campaign never got back to me, nor did they ever tell me where they were located in the state.
I’m sorry to hear he was close and didn’t make it — It could be he had plenty of signatures from where I live, and was having trouble in the more democratic districts. I’ve always hoped Santorum could catch fire, but what can you do.
This is what happened with me and Hunter in 2008. Hunter failed to make the ballot in Virginia (at least I got a chance to sign his ballot).
The only petition I signed this year was Herman Cain.
Perry and Gingrich made it. Barely but the have the signatures in. I assume they were collected thru the RPV or a county committee, so most probably ARE legit.
Something about this story sounds fishy...
I’m going to wait and see this confirmed by some other news sources. I’m not going to be shocked if they still have more time to collect signatures.
This story just seems unbelievable.
I’m asking you to cut Santorum some slack. I’m a Newt guy right now; but, I think Rick Santorum is going to be the “surprise” coming out of Iowa. But, unlike Michele Bachmann, the boy has limited finances and staff.
I’m not really worried about Perry and Gingrich. If they were reasonable in control of their process, they likely have valid signatures. I didn’t collect signatures this time around because I’ve been out of the republican party since 2008, but when I was in the party, we were all very careful.
And they probably won’t check for duplicates — I believe the entire validation is going to take place in one day (tomorrow) because they don’t want to work over Christmas.
And they have no interest in bumping either of these candidates, so why would they look hard. They don’t HAVE to.
We're not in Wisconsin anymore.
This whole election cycle is pathetic. First they’re up, then they’re down, move on to the next one and repeat. People are more angry and ugly than I remember from before, but our real anger is the fear of more Obama. I’ve stayed with Perry.......till the bitter end.
Thanks Crichton,makes me feel better.I asked my husband to send money to Santorum.If he makes it through Iowa I can help him in little ways.
Santorum and Bachmann will be the only one’s that don’t qualify.
The others have at least a 10% balance for duplicates.
I don’t think it’s fishy. The process is designed to weed out amateurs or incompetents. Those who don’t have strong party support are harder pressed to succeed, in terms of raising funds or to ensure they are eligible throughout the whole process.
Mitt, the establishment candidate, has the party doing it all for him, so he can just focus on running. Gingrich and Perry, because they are not establishment candidates are more on their own to find good people who can do all the background work themselves. So, they are going to have a tougher haul.
I was listening to Karl Rove talk about this and of course he took the opportunity to blast Newt about his poor organization and barely making it on time. He never once mentioned Bachmann, Santorum or Huntsman not making it at all. I just can’t stand the bias from that man. What a POS he has turned out to be. Organizations cost money and that is what it takes to put people on the ground and in this case collect signatures.
Not so fast. That’s Allahpundit’s typical BS speculation, not fact.
Since the GOP decided to emulate the idiotic system the democrats use by allocating delegates proportional to votes, every primary state is important now, if the race is close. It isn't winner take all anymore. I wonder if the dumbasses decided to start using 'super delegates' too!
So terribly STUPID! One is supposed to LEARN from the mistakes of OTHERS. Not follow them!
It was winner-take-all that gave us John McCain. John McCain never won a majority of any Republican primary vote until he finally captured his home state, Arizona, and wrapped up the nomination.
Now that's what I'd call an "idiotic system".
I envy the Democrats, ALL their candidates are ideologically pure, i.e. radical socialists. The MSM sees to that and covers for them.
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