You're right. This is not the state's problem. It is a VIRGINIA GOP rule.
This is not a law. The State does not require the political parties to submit their candidate lists 3 1/2 months before the primary election. It is an in-house Virgina GOP rule. Which can and should be revised.
The RNC should decertify the Virginia GOP and refuse to recognize their delegates to the convention unless they amend the rule to conform with reality.
I’ve had my tiffs with Perry and Gingrich. But if the GOP in Virginia keeps to this, Romney may end up on the ballot, but there is no way, no way in Cowboy Hell, I’ll cast a vote for him. I’ll sit it out, and the VA GOP can rest assured that they re-elected Obama.
VAs governor has, until this fiasco, been well regarded nationally..unlerss this gets fixed, and fats, he can forget ANY thoughts of the VP spot..
Central rule over local rule? Changing the rules after the vote? Shouldn't the RNC check with Republicans in Virginia first? This sounds too much like a Democrat argument to me.
Before everyone jumps all over the gingrich campaign, here’s a legal and political analyst talking about Virginia’s primary process:
“Want a sense of how next-to-impossible this is? I know top-flight Virginia political consultants who turned down lucrative petition project contracts from presidential campaigns because they did not think it could be done.”
http://www.ashby-law.com/better-things-to-do/
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2824644/posts
“The RNC should decertify the Virginia GOP and refuse to recognize their delegates to the convention unless they amend the rule to conform with reality.”
You honestly think the beltway GOP is anything but DELIGHTED with this last two standing cram down? This is a choice without an option for the distinction without a difference - and I would not trust the Virginia GOP apparatchiks anymore than I would trust the beltway GOP nomenklatura.
In Virginia, I would be all in for Ron Paul until the the primary is over.
There is no registration by party and anyone can vote in the presidential primaries, Reps and Dems. The State Board of Elections first notified the presidential campaigns on March 6th of the ballot access requirements. The campaigns have had since July 1st to collect the signatures they needed. They even had the great good fortune of having a statewide election in Virginia this November plus the annual gathering of Republican activists in early December to gather signatures.
Getting on Virginia’s ballot was a test of organizational skill and grassroots strength. It was also something much more mundane: it tested whether campaigns could pay attention to a calendar and read instructions. For those complaining that Virginia’s rules are too tough — the ballot access requirements have been largely unchanged since 1999. If memory serves, this is the first time in the three election presidential election cycles since then that the bulk of the field failed to make the ballot.
The bottom line is that these are state rules that apply to all candidates wishing to be on the ballot in the primaries.
“You’re right. This is not the state’s problem. It is a VIRGINIA GOP rule.”
GOP rules always helps to deter non establishment candidates by various means. They have never wanted the grass roots to be in charge in any state.
“This is not a law. The State does not require the political parties to submit their candidate lists 3 1/2 months before the primary election. It is an in-house Virgina GOP rule. Which can and should be revised.”
Not from the establishment perspective. This worked out perfectly for them. It was not after all a change from prior years was it? As for the 2 who qualified: Practice makes perfect, and submitting 15,000 signatures ensured no scrutiny and automatic qualification.
How is it that the Republican Party can impose a requirement that is not embodied in an actual statute?
Exactly. bttt