It just came out today from the Virginia GOP that candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry have failed get onto the Virginia presidential ballot. Gingrich became extremely upset with the Virginia primary system, saying that “only a failed system” would disqualify Gingrich and any other candidate. It’s also known that Gingrich will begin a write-in campaign in the state.
The Virginia state party has said that Gingrich and Perry failed to submit the necessary 10,000 signatures needed to get onto the primary ballot. And among the 10,000 signatures, 400 is needed from all of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts.
Rick Perry’s campaign is currently trying to decide what their next move will be, with the possibility of the campaign appealing the decision. And with Texas’ primary moving back into early April instead of the March 6th ‘Super Tuesday‘ date. Leaving him with no help from his home state, this could be a harder pill to swallow for Perry than Gingrich.
They are not the only candidates who are not on the ballot. Candidates Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann and John Huntsman also failed to get on to the ballot. Leaving only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul on the states primary ballot.
This event proves just how hard a national campaign can be, with all of them except for Romney and Paul having the experience of running a national campaign.
With Gingrich planning an aggressive write-in campaign in the state, it makes me wonder of the other candidates who failed to get onto the ballot will do the same. Gingrich’s campaign director, Michael Krull, said in a statement about the incident that, “Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates,”
Whether the GOP in the state where trying to keep the two off of the ballot isn’t very clear. It could just be the rules of the state holding so many candidates from the ballot.
Related articles
- Newt Lashes Out After Campaign Setback (huffingtonpost.com)
- Gingrich Will Run An ‘Agressive Write-In Campaign’ In Virginia Primaries, Where Write-Ins Are Illegal (thinkprogress.org)
- Gingrich, Perry Fail to Qualify for Virginia Primary Ballot (michellemalkin.com)
Shawn_the_Writer
