Sad,but you gotta admit VA was a cluster....of monumental proportions.
I live a few miles from Newt in the same community. I attend our monthly Rep county meetings. We have over 600 members. The county has three Cong districts that include parts of the county. Rep candidates have used the monthly meetings to collect signatures as well as at other adjacent county GOP meetings. Romney and Paul folks were there collecting signatures starting in July. I don't recall Newt ever having someone there collecting signatures.
Whatever one may think of the rules in VA, the time to challenge them is not after the fact, but when they were announced in March. Newt is not on the ballot in Missouri, Santorum is not on the ballot in DC. Huntsman failed to get on the ballot in AZ. Either you are a serious candidate or you are not.