Virginia Attorney General Intervenes in GOP Primary Ballot Dispute

foxnews.com ^ | 12/31/2011 | Carl Cameron

[TBBT]

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is intervening in the Virginia presidential primary dispute and plans to file emergency legislation to address the inability of most Republican presidential candidates to get their name on the ballot, Fox News has learned. Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul qualified for the Virginia primary, a contest with 49 delegates up for grabs. The failure of other candidates to qualify -- notably Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry -- led to complaints that the 10,000-signature requirement is too stringent. Cuccinelli, who is a Republican, shared the concerns. "Recent events have underscored that our system is deficient," he said in a statement. "Virginia owes her citizens a better process. We can do it in time for the March primary if we resolve to do so quickly." Cuccinelli's proposal is expected to state that if the Virginia Board of Elections certifies that a candidate is receiving federal matching funds, or has qualified to receive them, that candidate will upon request be automatically added to the ballot. Two former Democratic attorneys general are also backing the move, along with a former Democratic state party chairman and a former Republican state party chairman. Former state Attorney General Tony Troy called the Virginia process a "legal and constitutional embarrassment."

[org.whodat]

I assume you can read the polls., well may be not.

[itsahoot]

...In other words the few shall decide for the good of all?

Do you real think it has ever been any different? Not a obvious i the past, but there are always those do gooders, that never give you rest. Even Tocqueville noted that they never give you rest.

[CainConservative]

Show me all the Virginia primary polling where Newt is losing, kid?

[CainConservative]

The two recent VA polls at Real Clear Politics:

Virginia Republican Presidential Primary Polling Data

Poll Date Sample Gingrich Romney Paul Perry Bachmann Huntsman Santorum Cain Spread

Quinnipiac 12/13 - 12/19 489 RV 30 25 9 6 6 4 3 — Gingrich +5
PPP (D) 12/11 - 12/13 350 RV 41 15 6 8 8 3 6 — Gingrich +26

And we know Newt should get the lion’s share of fellow conservatives - Perry, Bachmann, Cain, and Santorum voters by time VA rolls around.

[duffee]

A voice of reason and common sense. The article did say that Governor McDonnell was in favor of this.

[itsahoot]

but how did the Governor of VA cause the rest of the pack not to get enough legal signatures to qualify? Are u saying it’s the Governors fault for the lack of legal signatures?

You do know that this is the first year any petitions have been counted right? You do no that Mitt and RuPaul were not counted this year right?

I have said before, this is simply a hole card that had never been played, when it began to look like they needed it, out it came.

[org.whodat]

LOL, national polls show noot losing by a bigger margin to obummer every week. Do you think noots plunge to the bottom is separate from the state of Virginia and people there are too dumb to read and they do not know he is no winner. When you are forced too hire people to try and get your name on the ballot you are not much. Hell I could have gotten four hundred signatures for Cain in two days in the ninth district by my self.

[show]

Look for a fake push poll to come out soon showing Romney in lead when in reality Newt continues to lead the polls in VA, the state where he currently resides!

GO NEWT !

[org.whodat]

Those polls are meaningless, that was the start of the noot plunge to the bottom.

[Hoodat]

Gov. McDonnell hasn’t endorsed anyone.

[ez]

Per the Journal Editorial Report on Fox News...Newts slide has stopped in Iowa due to his jobs and economy focus.

Sorry, Fox. Newt's slide has stopped because he finally got some cash to answer the negative ads.

[show]

Newt was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, lived in Georgia and now Virginia.

Romney is not popular with the Republican base. There is no way he would win the General election without the Republican base. All he will have in the Primaries are a handful of Blue States with low population.

[izzatzo]

AG Cuccinelli impresses me, he may be Virginia’s equivalent of Marco Rubio. I hope he continues to speak up and project himself for future office at a national level. God knows the GOP needs people like he appears to be.

[org.whodat]

What does willards have to do with it, other than he and paul, collected nearly 15,000 signatures each. Which put them beyond the margin of error. Same as not counting the mail in vote unless the election is close. If old willard can destroy noot with 2 million in ads what can obummer do with 500,000 million.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Bout dang time.

[annieokie]

If I'm not mistaken they changed the RULES in Nov. They changed the playing field to reap the results we are seeing now. That is unfair. Once something is started, in most all things it is Grandfathered in. Any changes of rules would only apply in the next or 2016 election.

You can't simply at will move the goal post.

[2nd amendment mama]

State law. The law requires 10,000 signatures from registered voters and they didn’t get them.

Wrong!! Get your facts straight. This is NOT a state law. It's the VA GOP RULE which was changed in Oct. of this year to the rule that they had to be verified. In the past it was just 10000 signatures which Gingrich and Perry did receive.

[Fred]

WTF with Santorum and Bachmann did they even come close or bother to get signatures?