Newt Gingrich failed to make the primary ballot in Virginia after a weeklong scramble by the former House speaker?s campaign to gather sufficient signatures.
?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 wrote on its official Twitter account early Saturday morning.
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The party announced Friday evening that Rick Perry had failed to meet the qualifications as well. That leaves the race in the state between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Other candidates did not submit signatures.
And the Gingrich campaign?s response ? that it would mount a write-in campaign ? won?t solve the problem.
?Gingrich cannot have voters write in, because Va. Code section 24.2-529 prohibits write-in ballots in primary elections,? Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, explained via email.
Gingrich?s campaign director Michael Krull pledged a fight Saturday.
?Only a failed system excludes four out of the six major candidates seeking access to the ballot. Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates,? Krull?s statement read. ?We will work with the Republican Party of Virginia to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign to make sure that all the voters of Virginia are able to vote for the candidate of their choice.?
The Virginia primary isn?t until March 6 ? Super Tuesday ? but the effort to get on the ballot was seen as a test of Gingrich?s organizational ability, which has been in doubt despite his burst in the polls.
Gingrich himself trumped up the stakes Wednesday night, after pulling away from early state campaigning to shore up the effort.
?Once again in Virginia we?re going to disappoint the Republican establishment, because tomorrow in Richmond, we?re going to turn in vastly more signatures than you need,? Gingrich told about 200 people.
The next day, he did two events in Richmond ? one hosted by the Republican Party of Virginia that drew a crowd, and another ?Virginians with Newt? rally that drew only 35 people.
The failure could prove significant if there is the protracted primary fight Romney predicted to POLITICO earlier this month, which would enable the former Massachusetts governor to capitalize on his better-organized operation to hold off Gingrich.
It also saps Gingrich of one of the states where his numbers were highest. In a Public Policy Polling survey earlier this month, Gingrich had a strong lead in the Virginia primary, receiving 41 percent of the support with Romney in second with 15 percent. A Dec. 21 Quinnipiac poll of Virginia Republicans found a closer margin, with Gingrich leading Romney 30 to 25 percent.
This is the second primary ballot Gingrich has failed to make. He missed a deadline in Missouri last month to appear in their primary vote. He struggled to get on the ballot in Ohio.
Gingrich, who lives in the Washington suburb of McLean, had put in a last-minute effort to get on the ballot, paying contractors more than $1.50 per signature collected.
Gingrich submitted about 11,000 signatures. The party was required to review each one and to ensure they had at least 10,000 were from valid registered voters.
Romney and Paul submitted 15,000 signatures, preempting the signature-by-signature review process.
There are 49 delegates at stake in the Virginia primary.
James Hohmann contributed to this report.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1211_70834_html/43998610/SIG=11m6amcpf/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70834.html
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