Collect enough signatures, get on the ballot. Pretty easy for Newt Gingrich, who is one of the top contenders for the Republican nomination, right? Apparently not. The Virginia Republican Party announced via Twitter than Gingrich had not collected enough signatures to be on the Virginia ballot.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/us/politics/gingrich-falls-short-of-signatures-needed-for-spot-on-gop-primary-ballot-in-virginia.html
Apparently, many of the signatures that Gingrich had were invalid, which is why many candidates get more than twice the amount of signatures needed. Gingrich is now hoping to use a write-in campaign, but Virginia does not allow write-ins for its primaries. Both Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were able to get enough signatures for Virginia, meaning they'll be the ones competing.
Now, if Virginia changes to allow write-ins, this would not be much of a problem, but it still highlights a type of failure on Gingrich's campaign, to not even get on the ballot.
What do you guys think? Is this an honest mistake, or should a candidate be more serious? Also, how do you think it will affect the outcome of other caucuses, and just his presidential campaign in general?
Saturday, December 24, 2011
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9 comments:
I think that this will hurt Gingrich chances for president greatly. Not only does it look bad that he had invalid signatures, but the fact that he missed the deadline reflects poorly on him. I don't think that many Americans would have confidence in a candidate that cannot meet a simple deadline.
I have to agree with Sophia. It seems highly unprofessional that Gingrich and his staff failed to gather enough signatures to even be on the ballot. Even though it seems like a mundane task to do, it is still necessary for his presidential election. Also like Sophia said, American's aren't going to want a president who can't even keep with a simple deadline. Overall, I have to say this was highly unprofessional and could cost Gingrich his election.
Even though Gingrich's campaign team seems quite unrattled by this preliminary failure, making statements that it will explore "alternative options," I think this definitely will have an impact on Gingrich's image if nothing more. The fact that he was not able to obtain a mere 10,000 signatures in his adopted state of Virginia speaks to his grim potential in winning the votes of an entire country. If he can't even win over his own backyard, what are the chances that he'll succeed in winning the entire presidential election? Like Sophia and Jennifer said, this also points to the rather unprofessional organization of his campaign team, which can only add negative points to his reputation.
It seems like an honest mistake but it just makes Gingrich looks sloppy and unprofessional. I don't think it will really affect his campaign too much, but he should be more cautious.
There is a reason why Gingrich isn't getting himself in the Virginia primary.
It seems the image of Gingrich being just a massive lobbyist who just wants to line his own pocket (he charges venues $60,000 per speech during his campaign) and cares nothing about the country is getting through. Gingrich lobbied for Freddie Mac and Fannie May in the past.
I could care less, and actually glad Ging-rich is losing steam in the Republican campaign.
I think that regardless of this being an honest mistake, the fact that other candidates don't seem to have any problem getting enough signatures reflects poorly on Gingrich's campaign team. And I do think there is a that people who are unsure of where to cast their loyalty will look at this incident and turn away from Gingrich. However, it is hard to say whether or not enough of his base will turn away from him to affect his chances of becoming president.
Regardless of how "honest" a simple mistake may be, I think the fact of the matter is that when running for such a significant position such details don't get the same weight. People need to know that the candidate they're counting on is responsible and dependable; anything that casts the slightest doubt on that is much greater reason for concern given the role being considered. Running for national office? Get your act together, no excuses.
I agree with the prediction that this will hurt his campaign; in fact, I rather hope it does.
I agree with Anna. This isn't a small, unimportant campaign, this is a campaign to be the president of the US. Gingrich and his staff should know what to do to get him to win, or even be put on the ballot. There is no room for careless mistakes when running for president because one little mishap might cost him the election.
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