As a resident of Virginia I will say that I am not at all pleased to have two choices and only two choices. That said, there are very clear rules in place and every candidate had the same access to those rules. Three candidates never even bothered to put in signatures for review. I suppose they just never got enough to make it worthwhile. One of those candidates, Rick Santorum, lives in Virginia.
Now, our Lt. Governor Bill Bolling is one of the Chairs for the Virginia for Romney campaign. That has led to some charges that he was rooting for this and possibly there was corruption involved. Anyone involved in the republican party in Virginia could have gone to help verify the signatures. I myself was sent an email with an invitation to attend and volunteer to help verify all the signatures. There is no proof whatsoever that Bolling had anything to do with the outcome. It is very unseemly to make these charges without any evidence to support them. Bolling has already announced his bid for the Governorship in 13, I don't think he would take the chance of ruining his chances to help Mitt Romney get elected. He has had his eyes on the governor's chair for quite some time. The ballots were verified by mainly volunteers. The likelihood that all of them were corrupted to push the outcome in any one direction is very hard to believe.
Gingrich has made the following statement:
The Gingrich campaign responded that "only a failed system" would disqualify Gingrich and other candidates. It said Gingrich would pursue an aggressive write-in campaign in Virginia.
The law is very clear in Virginia, there is no option for a write in campaign. While I am sure that people can still write in a name, it will not be counted. This law has been in place since 1999. This will be the fourth presidential election since these laws have been implemented. In this time no other major candidate has failed to get on the ballot. Here is a list of people who qualified for the Virginia ballots in the past:
2008 – Barack Obama, Dennis Kucinich, Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, John Edwards; Ron Paul, John McCain, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney.
2004 – Al Sharpton, John Kerry, Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Dick Gephardt, Lyndon Larouche.
2000 – Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer, George W. Bush, John McCain, Steve Forbes.
So Newt wants me to believe that the system is broken even when the likes of Lyndon Larouche or Al Sharpton can get the necessary signatures? That doesn't pass the smell test to me. Does it to you?
This comes down to one thing and one thing only. They lack the organization necessary to run a national campaign. Running for president is very difficult. As it should be since it is a very difficult job. Even Jill over at Pundit and Pundette; a huge Perry supporter, asked if he was just winging it. Perry turned in sheets that were not notarized. A very simple and free thing to do. It is also is clear indication that no one on Perry's staff bothered to look at the sheets when they were turned in by the volunteers. I will give Perry credit here as he is not making himself into a victim as Newt appears to be doing. So far he seems to accept the inevitable. He will not be on the ballot for one of the biggest prizes of Super Tuesday.
Look, getting people to sign these petitions is not easy. I am not saying that it is, but they were only required to get less than barely over one tenth of one percent of qualified voters. But the fact that it is difficult is the reason that an organized campaign is vital. You must have the staff to organize the volunteers. Another thing to remember is Virginia has off-year elections. We had an election last month. Every campaign has access to the information on where the voting locations were and what the past numbers of voters showing up to those locations are. This is low hanging fruit, everyone showing up is a registered voter. I volunteered on election day. I only saw people out for Romney, Newt, and Obama. I asked the other volunteers at the results party that I went to and none of them saw any for any of the other candidates that I listed. I personally signed for Cain, Newt, and Rick Santorum. I wouldn't sign for Romney and was never asked to sign for any other candidate. I am also on the email list for virtually every candidate and was only asked to collect signatures for Romney and Cain.
Newt would like to change the rules because he is unhappy with the results. That is a leftist tactic. I find it abhorrent that Newt is now looking for a way around the rules. While I do feel cheated that I only have two choices on my ballot. The people who cheated me were the candidates themselves.
Now, I am going to get back to celebrating Christmas.
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