Posted on 12/24/2011 1:01:00 PM PST by Steelfish
Gingrich’s Ballot Miss Could Shake Voters’ Confidence
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE December 24, 2011
Newt Gingrich declared confidently the other day that he would get his name on the ballot for the Republican presidential primary in Virginia. In fact, he said he already had the requisite 10,000 signatures and an additional 2,000 to 3,000 for safety’s sake and would probably collect even more. Related
But that turned out not to be the case. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the Virginia Republican Party announced via Twitter that Mr. Gingrich had failed to submit enough signatures by the Thursday deadline, highlighting the organizational challenges to his campaign and raising questions about his prospects in a drawn-out nominating fight.
Many of the Gingrich campaign’s signatures were apparently invalid, which is why most campaigns try to collect almost twice as many as needed. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota also failed to make the grade.
The Gingrich campaign said it would work with the Republican Party of Virginia to pursue a write-in campaign, but Virginia does not allow write-in names in its primaries.
“Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates,” Michael Krull, Mr. Gingrich’s campaign director, said in a statement.
This misstep is bad news for Mr. Gingrich on several levels. Virginia is his adopted home state. Failing to gather enough signatures in your own backyard creates an image problem, at the very least.
“It’s a disaster for him,” said Larry J. Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia. “This sends yet another signal to Republicans that Gingrich is not able to organize.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Follow the rules, or go on vacation....
The fact that legitimate candidates have been gamed out of a state primary is not going to sit well with a lot of voters.
It would be easy to promulgate conspiracy theories that people believed about Myth, for instance, in this situation.
Just saying.
The few votes Virginia actually has might cost Myth dearly.
That is false. Both Perry and Newt submitted more than 11,000 signatures, and only 10,000 were required. The GOP verification process disqualified so many signature due to address discrepancies that both candidates lost too many votes.
What we do not know is who were the people verifying the lists. Were they Romney supporters, Ron Paul supporters etc.
We also do not know if any one was watching the checkers. We don't know what kind of discrepancies were tossed out. If software was used, was it so specific that it would not accept lower case letters instead of Capitals, or abbreviations, 9 letter zip instead of 5?
Too many unknowns to make informed decisions. Could even been that some of the volunteers just wanted to sabotage one ore both candidates. Lots of possibilities. Not enough facts known for sure.
Still all in for Newt.
What I’m saying is that legitimate candidates have already been driven off the ballot, and not just in VA.
Go Newt!
Frankly, I never saw this race as being close anyway.
Gingrich can afford to lose Virginia, since I have him winning about 40 states against Romney. It just makes me mad as heck that Romney is getting spotted 49 delegates.
And it’s in a state Gingrich was guaranteed to win.
And a brokered convention could bring them right back in.
We are already getting Myth.
The worst that could happen at a brokered convention is that we would still get Myth, but there would at least be the possibility of not getting him.
And a brokered convention would not have to limit itself to declared candidates.
No, probably not, but we have lots of Newt-haters who will gladly suck spew from the Slimes and heave it up here as if they knew what they were talking about.
“Anyone who thinks this will just pass by are seriously in denial.”
You got that right! bttt
And we have this possible scenerio waiting in the wings:
Brokered Convention – How Sarah Palin Or Jeb Bush Could Still Win The Republican Nomination In 2012
“And a brokered convention could bring them right back in.”
I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
At his public meeting in SC yesterday, Newt told the world how, as GOP nominee, he would force Hussein to debate him or face certain defeat.
It it simple, he will do as Lincoln did to Stephen Douglas. Whatever Hussein's campaign schedule is, Newt's will be one day later. Everywhere Hussein appears, Newt will be there the next day to counter him. He will be the yapper dog (my words, not his) at Hussein's ankles, an irritant that cannot be ignored . . .
Amen.
Where in Nigeria do I send my money order?
My personal view is that I don’t give a crap about this whole charade.
I’m not voting for Romney.
Wait a minute, who robbed who? I don’t see that anyone robbed anyone. We have two campaigns who failed to turn in the required number of signatures. Two campaigns did it, so should the others. Every problem is always the fault of someone else.
So is there evidence of chicanery? What evidence?
If the republican party can only save itself through a brokered convention, then I am no longer a Republican.
I want a party that is responsive to the people of the united states, not selecting their candidate behind the darkroom doors of the party elites.
If you sincerely believe that they will nominate Palin in a brokered convention, then yes, I’ve got a Bridge in brooklyn to sell us.
The salvation of the republican party is to turn to the people. A brokered convention means the party is finished. There is no point in working for them because our votes and our values, mean nothing.
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