Gingrich’s Ballot Miss Could Shake Voters’ Confidence [Sabato: "It's A Disaster For Him"]

NY Times ^ | December 24, 2011 | KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

[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.”

[EDINVA]

This is the same Larry Sabato who told the world just Thursday night that the RPV would ‘turn a blind eye’ to any deficits in the petitions just to get everyone on the ballot. Has Sabato ever been right about anything?

The column author seems not to know that Bachmann didn’t even submit petitions. All they want is the headline and to make Rs think Newt’s just not up to the job. This R ain’t buying.

Hey, Newt’s (and Perry’s) ground troops in VA screwed up ... it’s not the end of the world or their campaigns. There are 10 other contests the same day. If either survives and goes on to win the nomination, you can bet your bottom dollar he will have an extremely well organized campaign in VA .. this is a painful but not fatal setack.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Mitch McConnell proved this week that the GOP is not responsive to or representative of the people.

Our only hope is to wrest control from the entrenched elite.

The third-party route is doomed to failure. The Libertarians have been trying it for decades.

We have to kick the RINOs out and take over.

There is no other way.

[terycarl]

No one was robbed. As I understand it, all prospective candidates knew the Virginia rule and knew what they had to do.

yes and no...It is said here in Indiana that several of our districts did not put Obama on the ballot last election, too many Donald Ducks and Mickey mouses (or would that be mice) on the ballot for comfort...yet there he was.Pathetic

[terycarl]

20,000 signatures? That’s less than 1/2 of one percent.

I believe that in Indiana there has to be X number in each congressional district....much more difficult!!

[lonestar]

Have you ever passed a petition? It isn't as easy as you seem to think.

Perry and Newt turned in more than 10,000 but less than that were alid...it the way I understand it.

Perry turned in almost 12,000...more than Newt turned in.

[terycarl]

We have two campaigns who failed to turn in the required number of signatures. Two campaigns did it, so should the others

no one did it, the two who made it were grandfathered in from the 2008 election

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

That seems bizarre.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Why had the RPV not checked and matched addresses in prior primaries? Thousands of Virginia voters signed the petition in good faith, and now their intention is ignored by the state - a move that is beyond me. Perry and Gingrich both had over 10,000 signatures, and for some reason the RPV found about 2,000 signatures in each case without matching addresses. So now the voters of Virginia have a needlessly limited choice in the GOP primary: their choice is limited to one of two candidates, the flip-flopper or the kook.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hey dogz, isn’t it time to update your tagline to include Gingrich, Bachman, Santorum and Huntsman? I suppose you just have it in for Perry, even if the facts don’t support your point.

[Patton@Bastogne]

.

Newt Gingrich was been smeared by many attempting to distort his positions on various issues.

These parties include such "honorable" types such as Dr. Winkie (Ron Paul) and Mitt "I Love Gay Rights" Romney.



America's "Illegal Immigration Crisis" is a sterling example of such ridiculous lies against Newt Gingrich ...

It is a "Blatant Lie" to accuse Newt Gingrich of endorsing Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants. Period.



This Free Republic post responds (with the Truth) against those lies, to set the record straight, and help my fellow American Tea Party members) who are sick and tired of being horribly lied to by the GOP RINO Elite.

As a serious student of history ... I see that Newt Gingrich has emerged ... frankly like Winston Churchill ... as the candidate to return America back to a Constitutional Republic again (including prayers in public schools), not JUST merely defeat the "Marxist-Socialist Barrack Obama".


==================================


American Illegal Immigration ...the Disaster ...


First ... I abhor and despise the Illegal Immigrants who steal American jobs (based on some greedy business owners)...

Especially the hordes of Mexican immigrants ... who REFUSE to assimilate into our culture, languange and institutions ...

More specifically ... the FUBAR practice of celebrating "Cinco de Mayo" ... that absolutely is sickening ...

I would begin by CRIMINALIZING the hiring of Illegals ... under Federal Law (ouch !) to make it painful for American business owners to "virtually enslave" these Illegals ...

A practice that I have PERSONALLY observed (here in Florida) are business owners that hire Illegals ... pay them peanuts ... psychologically abuse them ... treat them as "urban serfs" ...

These "despicable" business owners are the ONLY REASON THAT THE ILLEGALS are even here .... all for the $$$ money $$$ ...


==================================


Now ... if it was me .... as President ... I would get every illegal out of the country in one-year ...

Honestly ... do you know "any" current Presidential Candidate who will DO THAT once ELECTED ?

"Not a Chance in Hell". Period.


==================================


Simply listen to Newt's speech that he gave in South Carolina (Friday, 2011-12-23) ... (timemark 48:25 for your convenience)

Here’s a link to the video:

Newt Gingrich attacks Illegal Immigration -- (click)

President Newt Gingrich also pledges to make ENGLISH the OFFICIAL language of the U.S. Government ...


==================================


So WHAT are we to do ? How do we Vote ?


I say ... take the Candidate with the 90-percent solution ... over Candidates B-C-D-E with their measily 5-percent solutions ...


Is it perfect ? Nope ...


But what would you rather have in your pocket ... if someone (genuinely) owed you $ 100 ?


$ 90.00 or "Zero" ????


And here's the "kicker" to that math problem ...

If re-elected ... Obama "The Socialist Kenyan" will STEAL another $ 200 from your pocket ... when he grants Citizenship to 25 million Illegal Immigrants ...

And if elected ... Mitt "I Love Gay Rights" Romney ... and the GOP E-RINOs ... will only steal $ 100 from your pocket ... when he grants Citizenship to 12.5 million Illegal Immigrants ...

And once those 12.5 to 25 million Illegal Immigrants are "SOCIALIST DEMOCRATIC VOTERS" ... you can KISS AMERIKA GOODBYE ...


==================================


My Conservative Tea Party credentials ?

I am a "proud" Tea Party Conservative, worked on the Pat Buchannan Presidential Campaign in Texas in 1996, created the award-winning "Impeachment Watch" website during Clinton's second term, and participated in the 2000 stop-election-fraud effort in Broward County (Florida) where the local Democrats tried to steal the election for Gore-Libermann.

As a Senior Aerospace Mechanical Engineer I volunteered to serve in Iraq to search for the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) that were later found to have been relocated to Syria's Bekka Valley.

I am a strong Sarah Palin supporter, and financially donated to Herman Cain's campaign (prior to the great fiasco).


Thanks for your time and reading ...


Patton-at-Bastogne
(Free Republic member since 1998)



.

[TwoSwords]

It’s rather insane.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I agree. Its insane to have a primary with only 2 of the candidates on the ballot.

[Varsity Flight]

Romney is Hillary.

(And thus, will be even worse than the Puppet Spammer Appeaser.)

[Hoodat]

And, where do you think Newt has resided for 30+ years?

Inside the Beltway.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks TwoSwords.

[gswilder]

Sabato is right about this... it will hurt Newt and Perry in public perception, but most importantly, fundraising. Basically these candidates just threw out a big state. Makes the path to victory even harder. I think we will quickly see, the republican playmakers aligning with Romney pretty early in 2012.

I love Newt, but he has had too many organizational missteps. Romney will win the nomination.

[DoughtyOne]

Thank you for your comments.

You may be right. I am still not convinced he can gain the support of our party. Folks do not seem able to get behind him. He’s seen almost every other candidate come and go, but he’s still languishing.

Each time the support of the people who fall, seems to be disbursed to others.

We’ll see. You may be right. For the good of the nation, I hope you’re wrong.

Take care.

[Portcall24]

Let me get this straight. Virginia has had this rule on the books for years and now to keep Newt & Rick off the ballot they enforce the rules “just this once”. Sorry but that sounds way too much like a conspiracy for me to believe. And for you to suggest I support selective enforcement is just plain wrong.

[chrisnj]

Right, the rule is the rule!
Rule is the pres must be a natural born citizen - born on US soil to 2 USA citizen parentS.
Your messiah soetoro/soebarkah/barry/shabbazz/bounel/bho IS NOT A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN but he is the pres anyway and YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT PARTICULAR RULE!

Ask your messiah to abide by the rules and then you can talk!

[chrisnj]

To all -
since we are talking about rules - R candidates who don’t submit enough ‘valid’ signatures get disqualified, fair enough. Now demand VA SOS and election officials enforce the rules that obumo has to prove beyond doubts that he was born on US soil to 2 USA citizen parents, i.e. he meets the article 2 pres requirement!
Gingrich, Perry, it is time to kick obumo off the ballot by demanding the states election officials vett obumo - does he meet the US constitutional requiremnet and the state’s own constitutional requirement to be the pres?!