Posted on 12/22/2011 6:14:28 PM PST by TBBT
That’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that Perry and Gingrich, either one of whom could still become the Great Grassroots Hope against Romney, might not have qualified either. You need 10,000 signatures to make the ballot but 15,000 are recommended since a bunch are bound to be thrown out as false or duplicative as the petitions are scrutinized. You also need at least 600 signatures from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts. Romney submitted 16,026 and Ron Paul submitted 14,361. Perry’s total: 11,911. Gingrich’s: 11,050. If they end up getting bounced, the Republican primary ballot for one of America’s key swing states will consist exclusively of … Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
*snip*
Larry Sabato expects the state GOP will turn a “blind eye” to any signature problems on Perry’s or Gingrich’s petitions. I’ll bet. Question for political junkies, then: How could Bachmann, Huntsman, and Santorum have failed this epically? Is it a simple matter of lacking the resources to put people in the field collecting signatures or is it a sign of deep organizational dysfunction that should rightly disqualify them from the race?
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Is not making Virginia fatal to a campaign?
Is it a simple matter of lacking the resources to put people in the field collecting signatures
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I’m thinking that’s got to be it.
I wish this chicken**** “primary” would hurry up and end. I’m sick of all this crap. Barry and the ‘RATS are laughing their asses off while the Republicans spend all day clobbering each other over the head with rubber chickens. “Hey Moe! Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!”
Is not making Virginia fatal to a campaign?
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No. This is, afterall, the Primary, not the GE.
Failing to make the ballot on one state is almost, but not entirely, meaningless.
Huge massive GROAN
Just WOW............just..........wow..........
Well I hope there is a mistake in the numbers HA posted.
It’s good to know that Mitt isn’t getting a coronation, regardless of what happens.
In the immortal words of Nelson Muntz “ HA, HA!”
Ya mean “RINOs.” Just when we thought 2008 was an embarrassment, 2012 takes the cake.
This is pathetic. This would never happen to 0bama. Ever. He has a history of disappearing his opponents’ signatures.
This is why I wear my “I’m with stupid” t-shirt when I get around elected Republicans.
Sooooo the fix is in?....................
“Then, just for the hell of it, I hope all the anti-Romney forces join together and vote for Kooky-dude and he wins the VA Primary and leaves Romney looking stupid.”
I can see a fantastic backfire in the making, if Paul wins both Iowa and Virginia. Wouldn’t be able to chalk it up to a one-state fluke. Then in a few months everyone can express confusion over how he got the nomination when no one wanted him.
FOr me it is, since I’m in Virginia. Why would I support a candidate I can’t even vote for?
Or more importantly, why would I support a candidate who couldn’t be bothered to collect signatures.
Yes, there are a lot of signatures needed, but it’s not hard. We have republican committees in every county. All you have to do is send your petitions to each committee, and ask for help. You’ll get half your signatures just passing the petitions around the committees, and then they can collect the rest.
If you were paying attention, Virginia had an actual ELECTION in November. All you needed to do was ask the republican committees to pass your petitions to the people they had handing out sample ballots. A couple hundred actual voters at each precinct — and you’ve got your numbers.
Funny thing is, I bet Cain had enough signatures. He had his petitions at the polling places. But he dropped out, so I presume they decided not to file.
I don’t think Santorum and Bachmann were even trying. I wrote to both campaign more than once asking them if they wanted help, and to offer the signatures of my three voting age family members. Neither responded, although Santorum put me on his mailing list.
I call on Santorum and Bachmann to drop out, and let their supporters move to real candidates who are actually RUNNING for the nomination, as evidenced by doing the mundane task of QUALIFYING FOR THE BALLOT.
Meanwhile, my job is a lot easier now. Gingrich or Perry. Perry or Gingrich.
Maybe I’ll wait until tuesday, and see if they both qualify — although I agree with Sabato. Virginia law puts the decision absolutely in the hands of the RPV, and they can use any standard they want. That’s why Romney is already “qualified”, they decided if you submit 15,000 signatures they won’t even count them.
And if McDonald is supporting Gingrich or Perry, he won’t let them get bumped. Heck, assuming both Gingrich and Perry have supporters on the RPV (I will note they have BOTH headlined RPV events, Perry months ago and Gingrich yesterday), I think they’ll watch out for their candidate.
But if you want to be “helped” onto the ballot, you first have to actually submit signatures. Bachmann, Santorum, Fail. Sorry. You are out of here, please resign so we can get a real conservative to win in Iowa?
So the money and time that is spent in these two states makes the lesser candidates neglect a state like Virginia..that has more electoral votes than the other two combined. Unbelievable.
The primary process needs to change, imho.
I agree with you, that for Perry and Gingrich, there is no real excuse. One of the basic questions a good campaign manager should be asking is about the status of each state, to ensure they have the requisite number of signatures, with a reasonable safety margin.
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