Credit: MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich failed to amass the required 10,000 signatures of registered voters.
WASHINGTON --
Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich's campaign attacked Virginia's GOP primary election system on Saturday for keeping him off the state's March 6 Super Tuesday ballot. It was a significant setback for a candidate who has surged in popularity but struggled to organize his campaign.
The state party said that Gingrich, who lives in Virginia, had failed to submit the required 10,000 signatures to appear on the ballot. Texas Gov. Rick Perry also failed to qualify, the state GOP said.
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, although state law prohibits write-ins on primary ballots.
"Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates," Gingrich campaign director Michael Krull said in a statement. "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."
However, state law says this about primary write-in campaigns: "No write-in shall be permitted on ballots in primary elections."
"Virginia code prohibits write-ins in primaries. He can't do it," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at University of Richmond.
Tobias said Gingrich may have had trouble meeting a requirement that he must submit 400 signatures from each of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.
Gingrich's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, certified earlier Friday by the state GOP, will be the only candidates on the ballot.
The stunning result means Gingrich ? who lives in McLean, led among Virginia's GOP primary voters in the latest poll and is vying with Romney for national front-runner status ? will not get a chance to compete with Romney in the state's primary.
Virginia is one of 11 states holding a primary or a caucus March 6, Super Tuesday.
Also Friday, the Democratic Party of Virginia certified that President Barack Obama was the only Democratic candidate to qualify for the ballot. The State Board of Elections will cancel the scheduled Democratic presidential primary, and all of Virginia's delegates to the Democratic National Convention will be cast for the president.
About 30 GOP volunteers who spent the day checking signatures at state party headquarters in Richmond determined that Gingrich and Perry failed to meet the requirements ? the signatures of at least 10,000 registered voters, with at least 400 from each of the 11 congressional districts. Observers from the campaigns monitored the process.
Gingrich had diverted to Virginia ahead of the deadline in a scramble to qualify for the ballot. He attended an Arlington County rally Wednesday night and on Thursday addressed a Republican Party of Virginia fundraiser in Short Pump.
Paul's campaign submitted 14,361 signatures to the State Board of Elections by Thursday's 5 p.m. deadline. Perry's campaign submitted 11,911. The Gingrich campaign submitted 11,050 signatures, giving him a smaller margin of error than Perry.
Romney, who submitted 16,026 signatures, was the first Republican presidential candidate to file his petitions. His Virginia campaign chairman, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, delivered them Tuesday.
The State Board of Elections turned over the petitions to the state GOP for certification.
The field for Virginia's GOP primary essentially collapsed between Thursday evening and early Saturday morning.? First, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman did not submit signatures to the State Board of Elections by Thursday's 5 p.m. deadline, which meant they were automatically disqualified.
Then Friday and early Saturday, the Perry and Gingrich camps learned that too few of their submitted signatures passed the test.
Virginia's strict petition rules ? requiring hundreds of signatures from each congressional district ? put a premium on campaign organization.
Bolling has been affiliated with Romney since the former governor's 2008 campaign. Paul, who was the Libertarian presidential nominee in 1988 and ran for president as a Republican in 2008, has strong grass-roots support.
Gingrich has not been endorsed by any prominent Virginia Republicans, and there was little indication of a campaign infrastructure in the state.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and U.S. Senate hopeful George Allen are neutral so far in the nominating contest.
Former Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, the 2005 Republican nominee for governor, headed Perry's Virginia campaign. Perry came to Richmond in September to headline a GOP fundraiser at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
The significance of Virginia's role in the presidential nominating process remains to be seen. The Iowa caucuses kick off the presidential voting Jan. 3, followed by primaries in New Hampshire on Jan. 10, South Carolina on Jan. 21 and Florida on Jan. 31.
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