Posted on 12/26/2011 8:40:42 AM PST by TBBT
Richard Winger over at Ballot Access News has an EXTREMELY interesting post (link via here) on the mess that the Virginia Republican party has found itself in over… access to the ballot in Virginia. For those coming in late, background here and here: the very short version is that the VA GOP only certified Mitt Romney and Ron Paul for its primary ballot. Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich both had too many signatures tossed; Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, and Michele Bachmann didn’t even try. Of the seven candidates, one (Romney) had more than enough signatures (15K) to bypass the verification process entirely. All of this has caused a lot of agitation among Republicans following the primary process, of course; and not just from people who disapprove of what the VA GOP has done. There has been a good deal of defending of the outcome; and one argument heavily used in this defense has been that the campaigns all knew the rules and that previous Republican campaigns were able to get on the ballot, so clearly a competent current Republican campaign should have done so.
One small problem with that: as Winger argues, the rules were allegedly drastically changed. In November of this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
...and the thot plickens...
Do we smell fish from the Republican establishment?
The media better take note.
One small problem with that: as Winger argues, the rules were allegedly drastically changed. In November of this year.
There should be law suits in the works. If this is true Newt and Perry will be on the ballot.
>> allegedly drastically changed
What is all this baloney about ‘allegedly changed the rules’, they either did or they didn’t. It should be easily provable one way or the other.
Is the Pope, um, uhh, (nevermind)
How do you find a dead fish under the freezer? Let it “ripen” and follow your nose.
They did exactly that. Actually in September. It was posted here on another thread.
I always tell my candidates that if we need X number of signatures, I want 2 or 3X that turned in, and we focus our efforts on doing that so our butts are protected.
That doesn’t speak to the screwed up system they got there and changing the rules mid-stream. But in the end if you got 2 or 3 times the signatures you need you’re golden no matter what. I’m sympathetic but to a point. Harsh but sometimes the best offense is a good defense.
I expect Perry and Newt to both be on the ballot.
OOOOOOOk nice,
Newt and Perry have over the amount of Votes required
Then the rules are changed.
They only ones responsible are Newt and Perry,
Got it!
Yup. YOU are responsible for your campaign. You never rely on the rules. If it says you need 1000 signatures, you get 2 or 3 thousand, preferably 5. Democrats abuse and change the rules all the time, You always go above and beyond to eliminate any possibility of getting shafted without possibility of blowback on them.
If you can’t handle that, don’t get into the game. Politics is war.
Yes, and it brought in the grandson of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to plan the attack. Tora ... tora ... tora. Newt was about as well prepared as we were at Pearl Harbor.
The article makes a fundamental and valid point that can be applied to any state—a candidate who has run for president in a prior election cycle will have the advantage of experience and recognition. It is never a level playing field when one candidate has been through the process before, and ultimately the other candidates can claim ignorance when things don’t go their way.
Then the rules are changed.
It's even better than that. Romney and Paul have over 15,000 signatures. According to the rules, if you have over 15,000 signatures you don't have to have them verified. As soon as Romney gets his 15,000, the rules change. After the rules were changed, why, it is "discovered" that Newt and Perry have just enough signatures thrown out to disqualify them. Shazam!
More info about the undated letter can be found on this thread.
Romney submitted 16,000 sigs. Perry 12,000, and Newt 11,000.
The rumor is that Newt was bounced because he dropped below 400 in one or two districts. A couple of the NOVA districts around DC are 90% Dem, and finding a Republican there (who will admit it) is like finding a needle in a haystack.
In your opinion.
Let’s see what happens.
They followed the rules.
Had MORE than necessary of votes.
But not enough for you. I understand that.
No, not my opinion. I’ve ran campaigns for 10 years in a Democrat district and know of what I speak. It may seem glamorous to roll that way but the reality is you don’t do politics on a wing and a prayer. You NEVER trust the rules.
The only thing you trust is that you dotted and crossed above and beyond the rules as well as doing more than your primary opponents so they can’t single you out without it coming back to bite them. If you can’t put some forethought into your campaign to ensure you have an unassailable margin of error then you shouldn’t be in the game. Twice the number of signatures minimum is SOP.
Sorry those facts burst your worldview.
They might have gotten away with it if they had waited four weeks until the field had narrowed, and it didn’t look like their rules excluded 5 out of 7 major candidates. But instead they tried to bury it in the Friday before Christmas news dump at 2AM and didn’t succeed.
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