Virginia was not corrupt or rigged, and I resent the slander against my own state’s representatives. A lot of people were upset that their candidates couldn’t do the simple task of collecting signatures, and decided it was part of some nefarious plot.
I will note that we just picked senate candidates for a primary using the identical process, and every candidate was able to meet the thresholds, even those who entered the contest late. The guy I’m supporting had over 17,000 signatures.
I was only upset that Rick Perry’s campaign never sent an e-mail asking for supporters in the state to collect signatures. We had a statewide election during the signature process, all they needed was 100 dedicated volunteers scattered at precincts throughout the state; if each collected 200 signatures from voters showing up at the precinct, that would be 20,000 signatures, well above the 15,000 needed.
Worse, the party already staffs most polling places at election day — so you really just needed to drop off signature forms. We had ONE signature form at my precinct table, and it was for Herman Cain. He already had over 25 signatures when I showed up at 7:15am to vote, he probably ended up with a couple hundred from our precinct alone, since we had almost 1000 people vote republican there.
I can’t speak to what happened in other states, but politics is about organization, and a good organization would have little trouble getting 15,000 signatures in Virginia; we have solid republican committees throughout the state, the state party is ready to help, and we have plenty of republicans.
Heck, Rick Perry actually came to the state RPV meeting in September, DURING the signature collection process. All his die-hard supporters came out for lunch and to hear him speak (I was there with my daughter as well). And guess what — NO signature pages were available, and no request was made to the people there to go collect signatures.
I sent e-mails to Perry, Santorum and Gingrich’s campaigns, asking them if they wanted help collecting signatures, and no campaign ever responded. I think they all thought they had it taken care of.
The process isn’t easy, but it is easy to understand, and the rules were clear and easy to follow. Collect 10,000 valid signatures, and you are on the ballot. Collect 15,000 signatures and we’ll assume you won’t get more than 1/3rd rejected, so you’ll be on the ballot (we’ve NEVER had more than 1/3rd of the signatures found to be bad, so the rule makes sense).
As to your general concern about the process being rigged, I don’t see how, even if true, it would make what is being discussed in this thread any more palatable.
I’ll discuss Nevada specifically in another post.
“Virginia was not corrupt or rigged, and I resent the slander against my own state’s representatives. A lot of people were upset that their candidates couldn’t do the simple task of collecting signatures, and decided it was part of some nefarious plot.”
Of course it’s corrupt and rigged. In Texas you just need 300 signatures to get on a ballot and maybe a fee. The fact that Virginia rules basically disenfranchised a huge amount of voters by keeping almost every major candidate, except for the two most despised, off the ballot is proof enough of that. It’s a system that obviously supports the big money candidate who can buy the organization he needs to do it. So where exactly can the Herman Cains of the world, or the Joe the Plumbers, ever hope to run for President when the system is dominated by our version of the Roman aristocracy?
And as for the caucus system in general. This IS a Republic, after all. I don’t like Paul’s foreign policy either, but if he can throw a wrench in the system and get us into a brokered convention, that could be a godsend to save us from the clutches of the GOPe and Mittens. Even if it fails, I’d rather Mitt be severely damaged than to have to deal with him for 4 years, and have to campaign for him again after that since we wouldn’t even have the option to nominate a conservative. Better to let Obama have the Presidency and focus all our effort in taking the Senate. Besides, as a common enemy, he’ll do a lot more to unify conservatives than Mitt “pathological liar” Romney.
The rule makes sense until you realize Ron Paul's gang probably wrote in Mickey Mouse 15,000 times and you didn't check. "b. Deception and Misinformation - use any means necessary to divide and conquer our opponents."