Odd Couple

CORRECTION FROM EARLIER VERSION– Gingrich has not qualified

The Virginia State Republican Party has indicated that of the seven candidates Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are the only two GOPers to qualify for their March 6 GOP primary ballot. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry came up just short in their bids while Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum and J. Huntsman did not even file paperwork.

Under Virginia’s strict standards which require 10,000 overall signatures with at least 400 from each of the state’s 11 Congressional districts Bachmann, Santorum and Huntsman were expected to come up short of the requirements but Perry’s and Gingrich’s failures have been a surprise to many not acquainted with Virginia’s system.

Perry gained 11,911 signatures, more than Newt Gingrich, who gained 11,050. Typically petitions contain overwrites and other anomolies, but Virginia has yet to indicate the precise problem with the signatures delivered by the two candidates.

Romney (16K+) and Paul (almost 15K) were both well over the 10,000 standard.

Gingrich has blasted the state’s requirement’s and promised a write-in campaign.

  election 2012, politics, rockland county