Virginia’s Primary mess limits Republican voters to only two choices for nominee for president

Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich won’t be an option for Republican voters in the Virginia Primary. According to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, the only two candidates GOP voters can choose from are Texas Congressman Ron Paul and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

The Times-Dispatch made a big deal of the mess, calling it a Gingrich “disaster” and “failure.” It’s not the first time a daily paper took a political swipe without divulging the whole story.

Talking Points Memo said both Gingrich and Perry “professed to turn in more than 10,000 signatures.” Party officials apparently tossed out a number of the signatures.

Ballot access expert Richard Winger noted that in past elections, GOP officials simply accepted raw signatures presented by candidates planning to run in the primary. Winger wrote:

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 signatures were not checked. Any candidate who submitted at least 10,000 raw signatures, on notarized sheets, and which had at least 400 signatures from each U.S. House district, was put on the ballot.

What’s the other difference between 2012 and primaries in Virginia’s past? A lawsuit.

An independent candidate for the state legislature—by the way, indies only have to come up with 125 valid signatures that are vetted by the state—filed a lawsuit against the Virginia GOP, alleging they hadn’t checked their candidates’ signatures. TPM has an analysis of the lawsuit and the candidate, who gives the impression he is a likely Ron Paul supporter.

Red State’s Moe Lane also weighed in on the matter, and his information suggests the Virginia GOP changed policy in midstream. Ironically if a candidate has more than 10,000 signatures, he can bypass the verification process. Romney’s signatures topped 10,000 easily, so no vetting was applied.

Paul and Romney had an edge for another reason. As repeat candidates who had run for president before, both had intact operations going into 2012.

Politico reported an attorney with experience in politics is attempting to help Gingrich via the courts.

Newsbusters has an interesting video featuring an interview with The American Spectator’s John Fund and pundits on Fox News. The pundits raked Gingrich over the coals, claiming his campaign screwed up

Fund, however, didn’t take the bait or for that matter, the chance to plug Romney.

Fund said, “I think when you have only two candidates out of 7 or 8 that are potentially available getting on the ballot, it means that the ballot access law is way too strict and frankly I think it should be overturned in court.”

Gingrich’s campaign called the Virginia system a “failed system” because it excludes 4 of the 6 major candidates. One might add that the system excluded candidates for the first time, since the policy reverses procedures used in past elections.

As of Dec. 22, Gingrich led Romney in Virginia, with a Quinnipiac poll showing the former speaker ahead 30-25 percent.

Virginia's Republican Primary is scheduled for Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Dec. 27, 2011)

Update on Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 4:04PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Dec. 27 Update, 4 p.m.

The Virginia mess is looking more and more like a gerrymandered mess if you ask me--consider who benefits. Look at what politicos did in Florida--they advanced the Primary date way ahead (breaking an earlier agreement), presumably to help Romney. At least that's what many of us think since some of the people on the state government committee that made the decision are Romney fans.

The Northern Virginia Lawyer blog examines Virginia law about primaries, and it's obvious this decision came from the Republican Party, not the state. That blog suggested Gingrich and the other candidates head to court--fast.

Moe Lane has more commentary about this, including something Virginia's attorney general Ken Cuccinelli said:

I would throw out for consideration that we should lower our requirements to 100 legitimate signatures per congressional district.

Let’s face it, absent a serious write-in challenge from some other candidate, Virginia won’t be nearly as ‘fought over’ as it should be in the midst of such a wide open nomination contest. Our own laws have reduced our relevance. Sad.