Posted on 03/06/2012 12:18:58 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
If you can't vote for yourself, why bother voting at all? That appears to be the tack taken by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich today, who said that he will not be voting in the Republican presidential primary in Virginia, where he resides but is not on the ballot, NBC News reports.
Though Gingrich still brands himself as a son of Georgia (albeit one born in Harrisburg, Pa.), he has resided in McLean, Va. for more than a decade. But his campaign failed last year to submit the 10,000 signatures required to get on the ballot for today's primary. (Same goes for Rick Santorum; only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are on the ballot.)
So rather than cast a write-in for himself or even toss one of his rivals a relatively impact-free vote—Romney, despite some ankle-biting from his detractors, is the overwhelming favorite to win most of Virginia's 46 delegates—Gingrich is sitting this one out.
"Newt and Callista are not casting a ballot in Virginia and they did not request an absentee one,” a Gingrich spokesman told NBC. "When given a choice between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, they could not pick either one," the spokesman continued.
Gingrich, instead, has been focusing the bulk of his Super Tuesday campaign on winning his adopted-but-unofficial home state. The online prediction market InTrade gives him a 98.5 percent chance of winning Georgia.
Note: Write-ins are not allowed on the VA ballot. If a voter does a write-in, the ballot is tossed in the trash.
What a moronic waste of ink. The author's an idiot. What's Gingrich supposed to do? Vote for his opponent? Idiots.
My candidate wasn't on the ballot either but I voted anyway and cast my balot for Ron Paul. I'd rather see him win and deny Romney a victory.
Are there no other issues on this ballot?
Noot is running. He wants himself to win.
Why would he vote for anyone else?
While deciding NOT to vote can be legit IMO it would have boosted my view of Newt(already high just for the info) to see him vote against MITT and keep him from winning VA. I bet Newt just didn’t want to be called out by the media for voting for someone else.....The next time he would have been interviewed it would have been why did you vote for Paul when you say you are the best man for the job...
Burn gas to cast a non vote
Vote for Mitt
Vote for Paul
...best for both you and America to just stay home and trim your toenails.
It's a Primary.
There are no other issues in a primary.
I guess he supports Romney then?
The idea that voters from any party can vote in this primary is ridiculous and basically, the result can be rigged.
Ugh, no.
State by state primaries are far better.
Another great reason to vote for Newt,cant even get on the ballot in his own state,,,
No.
No. It’s a primary. There are never any other issues on a primary ballot.
bookmark
After this election, I am pretty much thinking to leave the party unless Newt can get in there to clean the jerks out. How much more fraud on our side!!! CPAC votes were even an on line scam by a CPAC person(not independent source-w/an accurate results??) and Iowa, NH Fl where questions were arising...
i heartily disagree. A Paul victory in VA will be meaningless for sad sack paul but will hurt Romney...therefore I voted for Paul.
VA, at Romney's surrogates pushing, became the most difficult state to compete in. Ohio had similar changes requiring a set number of state wide signatures for at large state wide delegates as well as for delegates for your specific district.
This caused Santorum to appear on the ballot in some districts and not others. It also caused me to vote for Santorum in the large, state wide ballot where he appeared, but could not do so in my local district in Cleveland, I voted for Gingrich in that district.
That is why even if Romney loses the state wide vote, he may still win the delegate count.
It sure is nice to be a rich man. Good work if you can get it!
Sorry. Here in CA there are almost always other issues on a given ballot, primary or no.
Actually Santorum did not submit names to be on the ballot (nor did Bachmann).
Perry and Gingrich did. Each submitted the 10,000 signatures but Gov. Perry used some non-VA canvassers and Gingrich hired one who fraudulently collected signatures. This was the first year the VA Republican Party actually checked the names (party volunteers did the work) so Perry and Gingrich were refused places on the VA GOP ballot.
Paul and Romney collected 15,000 signatures each, which put them in a rarefied place — the number threshold where names did not have to be reviewed for legality.
Perry sued; others joined his suit. The judge said the case had merit but that they had filed too late.
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