Posted on 12/23/2011 3:44:52 PM PST by TBBT
Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, state GOP officials said Friday evening.
Perry’s campaign told state election officials it had submitted 11,911 signatures, but a Virginia Republican familiar with the situation said that the Texas governor did not submit the required 10,000.
Earlier Friday, the Republican Party of Virginia certified former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) to appear in the March ballot.
Four candidates — Romney, Perry, Paul and former House speaker Newt Gingrich — turned in thousands of signatures by the deadline. State party officials are spending the day certifying the signataries.
They have not examined Gingrich’s signatures yet, but expected to do so by late Friday night.
Candidates had until 5 p.m. to collect 10,000 signatures from across the state, including 400 from each congressional district.
Republican presidential candidates Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum did not submit signatures, according to state GOP officials
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I support Newt. I do not support Perry, but I don’t believe this poorly written story. Something smells....
Isn’t this how Obama beats all his previous state and congressional contenders? Disqualification from the ballot or scandal so he doesn’t have to face a good opponent?
Even though I don’t support him that’s too bad. He should at least be given a chance.
Something very strange has been afoot during this Republican presidential primary season, with several pundits and political figures implying that there are major players laying back on the sidelines, Sarah Palin hinting about it and various usual suspects beating around the Bushes about Jeb.
State primary filing deadlines and requirements must’ve flown out the window sometime ago when we weren’t looking, from the sound of it.
Now we have Perry apparently with insufficient signatures for Virginia, and three more who didn’t even submit any signatures. I’d say it was an establishment shot across the bow against those candidates that they don’t care for but then there’s Huntsman, an establishment baby if there ever was.
It sounds to me as if there’s a beneath-the-radar effort to undermine the role of the states in qualifying candidates again. It’s a bipartisan effort.
At first I was miffed, but folks, the rules were posted a long time ago. It’s a matter of (1) leadership, (2) organization, (3) money and (4) boots on the ground.
I just saw this on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6FEZYa1VFo
ABC Radio just claimed that the 11,911 signatures were submitted but VA is claiming that less than 10K of those signatures belong to REGISTERED voters.
Shoe lades? Cowboy boots with shoe laces?
What issues has Newt have? There was a story that he might miss the deadline for Ohio’s ballot, but then he didn’t. That ballot deadline is also being moved up when a new law goes into effect shortly, so it wasn’t really necessary.
If Rick Perry cannot secure his name on the Virgina GOP Primaty ballot, how could he be trusted to secure America?
BTW you need to google www.newtgingrich.com
Can't speak for Virginia but the general rule of thumb is to have 30% above the required number of signatures here in the People's Socialist RepuliK of Illannoyed in order to survive any ballot challenges.
My own opinion is going in with anything less than that is a fools errand as it's so easy to find bad signatures or duplicate signatures (same signature on different candidate ballots) which are easy enough ti disqualify. In a race like this, it's a whole other game when candidates begin challenging each other's petitions too. In heavily contested races, having 50% more than required is considered safe.
Once again, Perry appears to be taking a hit because of his own staff's incompetence.
Newt actually submitted less signatures than Perry according to the original report. Guess he checked them more carefully.
Sorry, Perry-ites, but there’s no conspiracy here. It’s obviously difficult to get on these ballots, otherwise any old joker could. This is a proper part of the weeding out process. These candidates have had plenty of time and opportunity to drum up support and they couldn’t do it in time. Not saying they can’t make a comeback, but we can’t have just anyone running for president and getting on the ballot or it would be chaos. You need to have some real support behind you to make yourself a credible candidate.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2824073/posts?page=1
Romney submitted 16,026 signatures; Paul 14,361; Perry 11,911 and Gingrich 11,050.
well, Sabato’s tweet also said that Newt is likely to be tossed out later tonight so I wouldn’t go counting any chickens just yet
Newts signatures haven’t been validated yet.
It is more likely a matter of doing “streetcorner signatures” instead of buying a copy of the voter registration list from the state.
Are they land owners? /s
If they can't meet the minimal qualifications for a state primary, they shouldn't be charged with running a country.
Oh the irony!
It’s reported that it will be announced later tonight if Newt met the requirement.
Newt had less signatures than Perry did.
So he may be off the ballot too.
That would leave Romney and Ron Paul on VA 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.