Posted on 12/23/2011 10:20:59 PM PST by Plutarch
UPDATE (12.53am): Sources at RPV are telling me that the 2,000 signatures do not have addresses on them… meaning that they cannot be verified. Newt Gingrich may very well be off the ticket in Virginia, folks…
Rumor has it this evening that one of the petition gatherers was not qualified to circulate petitions… which technically disqualifies those signatures in Virginia.
This would mean that the only two campaigns that qualified in the Virginia primary will be Ron Paul and Mitt Romney.
However… and there’s always a however… former State Senator Marty Williams back in 2007 was accused of having a handler circulate petitions to get him on the ballot that was not legally able to do so. The court ruled that, though the petitioner was not legally entitled to circulate the petitions, the enfranchisement of those who did sign the petitions trumped the lack of qualifications the petition gatherer held.
Ergo, even if this report is right, Gingrich will have the names needed to qualify for the Virginia ballot.
If… these reports are true…
That’s Bush’s job...
I don’t think you Newt people really have to worry that much at all. If these early primaries (except NH) go the way their anticipated to, then it may not make a big difference.
March 6 is Super Tuesday#1. The Anti-Romney candidate is going to clean up this night. You have primaries in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Texas worth nearly 332 delegates that Romney will have a hard time winning much in. Additionally, there are Mar 6 caucuses in Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, and Wyoming where the Anti-Romney would most likely do well with strong Tea Party organization.
Romney’s saving grace for March 6 has been the Massachusetts and Vermont primaries, where he would be favored. Super Tuesday#1 is worth about 556 Delegates total, and even with a 50% majority win in VA, would only get Romney to around 108, including VT and MA. Add in some proportional delegates of the other state caucuses and primaries and he would only have about 150-160 delgates, while the Anti-Romney would pick up the other 390-400, plus.
After Michigan, the states get troubling for Romney until the month of April comes when the more liberal states start rolling in. By then though, the Anti-Romney should have a good head of steam making it more difficult.
UPDATE (1:52am): NEWT IS OUT. RPV TO UPDATE SHORTLY.
Yes, Backmann does not have charisma needed and she is too slow and mechanical in her speech! I think she went along with her husbands idea of becoming a tax attorney weakly; when it was not even her idea or interest...and that made her sort of not a dynamic independent soul!
Man-caused Global Warming is the cause!
This is really blown out of proportion. Virginia is a super tuesday state. The nominee will likely be decided before then, and even if it isn’t, it’s not like Virginia will be the “decider”.Myopia.
As of 1:30 a.m. Saturday the state GOP had not announced whether former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had amassed the required 10,000 signatures of registered voters to appear on the ballot.
As I post it’s 2:05am, and no further official word.
I don’t know, the media doesn’t have much of a story if they take that angle. A Romney/Paul race is an obvious win for Romney. And if the story is, Romney is already the de facto winner, there’s no horse race to bring in ratings. The fact that only 2 candidates made the ballot while so many are still running could lend credence to the idea that it was a tough ballot to get on and maybe VA screwed something up.
I’ve never heard of anything like this. What is going on? Sabotage? It’s not like nobody’s ever heard of Newt ... or Perry or Bachmann or Santorum. Newt resides in Virginia for God’s sake. It sounds like it would be the first thing you’d do in every state, collect the necessary signatures. Something fishy is going on here if this is true.
It is no secret that Virginia has the most stringent ballot requirements. 10,000 authenticated registered voter signatures, and these throughout the Commonwealth. It discriminates against blowhard, self-aggrandizing candidates with no executive ability. The types that won't be able to mount a sufficiently formidable campaign to defeat Obama.
All the articles have been saying they’re turning them in at the last minute, so it wasn’t the first thing anyone did apparently. I can understand the third-tier campaigns not having the money to spend. For Newt and Perry, I would guess it came down to the campaigns hiring a manager in each state who failed to live up to the job, or just hiring them too late and giving them an impossible task within the timeframe.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/21/news/la-pn-newt-gingrich-diverts-to-virginia-20111221
“Gingrich told reporters in Iowa this week that he expected to “barely” make it on the Virginia slate as well. Late Wednesday, it seemed that he had reached his goal. His campaign tweeted that it had cleared the 10,000 mark.”
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/12/22/new-gingrich-focuses-on-virginia-ballot
“Gingrich said Wednesday he had enough ballot signatures, but he wanted to come to Virginia to deliver them personally. Taking no chances, his volunteers asked everyone to sign petitions before entering Gingrich’s rally Wednesday night in Arlington, just across the Potomac River from Washington.”
http://bearingdrift.com/2011/12/24/breaking-gingrich-2000-ballot-signatures-short/
UPDATE (2:43am): …and it’s official.
https://twitter.com/#!/VA_GOP/status/150480784145383425
@VA_GOP After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary.
We’re done here, folks.
VA is looking silly, with just two candidates.
What about write-in votes? Waiting for you to tell me those “won't qualify,” but that's what I would do in leiu of voting for either Romney or Paul.
VA is looking silly, with just two candidates.
What about write-in votes? Waiting for you to tell me those “won't qualify,” but that's what I would do in lieu of voting for either Romney or Paul.
VA is looking silly, with just two candidates.
What about write-in votes? Waiting for you to tell me those “won't qualify,” but that's what I would do in lieu of voting for either Romney or Paul.
Ron Paul’s fault.
Perry too?
Who the hell made the VA ballot?
I read the same thing that Newt failed to make the ballot. Upon furthing checking, Newt did make the ballot by delivering 11,050 signatures.
Republican candidates Jon Huntsman, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania failed to make the ballot.
Mitt Romney turned in 16,000 signatures. U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas, had 14,361 signatures, and Texas Governor Rick Perry delivered 11,911.
No, Newt did get on the ballot. The surprise is who failed to make the ballot:
Republican candidates Jon Huntsman, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania failed to make the ballot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.