This is, after all, the primary, and a Super Tuesday primary at that. The GOP nomination hardly hangs in the balance.
Important as it may seem, really all the primary does is select VA’s delegates to the GOP national convention. It is NOT the general election. Those delegates will be committed to voting for the winner during the first round of voting only. So voting for Paul is probably the better option, at least in this state, as the non-Romney. Not sure *I* can do that, but strategically, it makes sense. For all we know, Paul will be on a 3rd party ticket by the time they hit Tampa and all those delegates would be free to vote as they please.
This should be a wake up call to all the candidates, one of whom WILL be on the ballot in VA in November, to get their ground games good and strong in every competitive state, in every Congressional District, and in every precinct. That’s how Obama won this state in ‘08... great ground work, and from very early on. None of this running around at the last minute like Gingrich and Perry did for the primary ballot. In the long run this fiasco may actually benefit the candidates.
Unfair to Romney and Paul? Who gives a blank? This is not about the candidates but about the voters. Since many Virginians are horrified to learn about the rules in place to give unfair advantages to establishment candidates, it would seem never to be too late to make it fair to the voters.
Not sure why Cuccinelli caved after an entire week of thinking and studying this and suddenly deciding it would be unfair to poor Romney and Paul. Really strange to me.
I agree. I don’t fault the VA GOP for following the law (maybe they didn’t in past primaries, but that’s not relevant in the context of this primary, IMO), although I think they should have verified Romney’s signatures.
I have no problem with Virginia’s 10k/400 requirement for the general election; however, for primaries I think that the legislature should consider relaxing it a bit, say 5k/200. Primaries are supposed to be about more choices, not fewer.