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Virginia 2011 Independent Candidate for Legislature has Big Impact on 2012 Presidential Primary December 25th, 2011 There are currently many news stories and blog discussions about the Virginia presidential primary ballot access law. Some large blogs, such as Red State, have over 300 comments about the story. Some defend the current Virginia ballot access laws on the grounds that in past presidential elections, a fairly large number of Republican presidential primary candidates managed to qualify. But what has not been reported is that in the only other presidential primaries in which Virginia required 10,000 signatures (2000, 2004, and 2008) the...

~~snip~~ "A Gingrich campaign official prior to the move by the Republican Party of Virginia said the problem is how the rules are set up, arguing that the party is, for apparently the first time, cross-checking the addresses that signature-givers gave against the electronic voter database file for accuracies. A name without a proper address match was tossed, the official said."

The Republican nomination fight might be all but over by March 6, or Super Tuesday, when Virginia holds its primary. But if there is still a contest, the state's chance to be relevant has vanished with the fiasco over its primary ballot. Barring any successful appeals, the only two names on it will be Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Their success confirms that they have the best organized campaigns, and not just in Iowa and New Hampshire. At the same time, the failures of five other major candidates to get on the ballot, including McLean, Va., resident Newt Gingrich -...

(AP)WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has failed to qualify for Virginia's March 6 Republican primary, a development that complicates his bid to win the GOP presidential nomination. "After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10K signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary," the Republican Party of Virginia announced early Saturday on its Twitter website. Perry also fell short of the 10,000 signatures of registered voters required for a candidate's name to be on the primary ballot, but former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul will be on the...

UPDATE (1:52am): NEWT IS OUT. RPV TO UPDATE SHORTLY.