Will Newt Gingrich Be Next?
Update: Gingrich Also Fails To Make VA Primary Ballot
By Dell Hill
The presidential candidacy of Texas Governor Rick Perry took a devastating hit Friday when his nominating petitions failed to provide the minimum requirements to be included on the Virginia primary ballot.
Perry’s campaign - already plagued by the candidates poor showing in several debates, along with a couple of glaring errors during prime time TV interviews - will be hard pressed to recover; depending now on a possible write-in vote in order to net ANY votes from Virginian delegates on Super Tuesday.
Huge Error Could Sink Perry Campaign
Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to get on Virginia's presidential primary ballot after the state Republican Party determined Friday that he didn't submit at least 10,000 valid signatures. The GOP earlier announced former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul will be on the ballot.
An announcement from the party on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's petitions is expected Friday evening.
The state GOP verified Friday that Romney and Paul turned in petitions with enough valid signatures, including 400 from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts, to get their names on the March 6 primary ballot.
Perry submitted 11,911 signatures to Virginia election officials Thursday, which means 2,000 or more signatures were deemed invalid. Gingrich had about 800 fewer signatures than Perry so there's no guarantee he would meet the 10,000-name threshold.
The rest of the field — former Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman — failed to file petitions by Thursday’s deadline and won't be on the ballot. The Democratic Party of Virginia certified President Obama’s petitions, which included more than 15,000 signatures, Friday.
Virginia is one of the hardest states to get on the ballot. In 2008, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, then running for the Democratic nomination, failed to make Virginia's ballot.
Romney handed in more than 16,000 signatures Tuesday, signaling the strength of his Virginia organization. According to state election officials, Paul turned in 14,361 signatures, followed by Perry’s 11,911 and Gingrich’s 11,050.
Virginia’s 49 delegates, handed out proportionally based on election results, make up more than 10 percent of the 475 delegates up for grabs on Super Tuesday.”
Dell’s Bottom Line: The thought that the Gingrich effort might also fall short would leave Virginia Republicans with Mitt Romney and Ron Paul as the only two candidates who’s names would appear on the ballot!
Update: Early Saturday morning it was announced that the Gingrich campaign had also failed to secure enough signatures to get Newt's name on the Virginia ballot. Extremely bad news and a major campaign mistake for both Perry and Gingrich. Even worse for Gingrich, he lives in Virginia and was near the top of all major polls before this setback.
...And apparently, under Virginia law, write-ins are not allowed in primary elections. They are in many other states, so please don't construe that statement to mean that write-ins are not allowed in every state. There have been many write-in candidates who have won primary elections despite their name not appearing on the ballot. H/T - Stacy McCain for that tid-bit from Virginia.
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