(I don’t particularly agree with this, but it’s an interesting argument. – promoted by lowkell)

Perry and Gingrich out as predicted: Should the 2012 General Assembly act on its first day to adopt the suggestion herein, and give GOP primary voters what should be their right, to choose their favorite candidate among those who are clearly credible contenders based on the polls?

by Paul Goldman

The failures of the Perry and Gingrich campaigns again point out the growing problem in our politics, which is that the internet makes it easy for anyone to talk the talk, but walking the walk is the same as when Moses had to get across the Red Sea without GPS on his Iphone: it is sweat equity, and low tide doesn’t hurt either. Stuff is hard to do. I am sure they will blame the President for this eventually.

However: Just as states should not be allowed to use ID laws to unfairly restrict voting rights of the people, the Republican loyalists of Virginia should be entitled to vote in their primary for those credible candidates seeking the party’s presidential nomination. Admittedly, the thought of President Bachmann, Gingrich, Huntsman, Perry and Santorium, may be incredible, yet the people – in this case GOP voters – should have their right to pick their nominee.

Bottom line: While other candidates have, over the years, managed to get on the ballot, the issue is really not about them, but about the people’s right to choose. This is a failing of the national Perry and Gingrich campaigns, I get that. BUT voting rights are about the people, not the process.

Sure, the system has to be protected from fraud and the crazies, but this can’t be an excuse to, in effect, restrict the right of citizens to cast a ballot for their favorite candidate.

 

Bachmann, Huntsman, Gingrich, Perry and Santorium meet the test of legitimate candidates for the GOP nomination. They are getting 5% or more in key polls right now.  Keeping them off the ballot denies the people their right to choose. To be sure the rules on ballot access are equal for all, and well known to the candidates. Virginia Republicans have one of the larger delegations to the GOP Convention, thus it is shocking to think their campaigns could be so incompetent.

But is this process hurdle consistent with the right of the people?

This year, the answer is no. If it were a gubernatorial candidate missing the ballot, I would say yes, they’ve got to take the blame and the consequences.

But presidential candidates are different. Given that we are electing our national leader, logic would suggest we have similar rules for ballot access in all states. Before the 10th Amendment chorus pipes up (or those who want to remind me that we are called the United States of America for a reason), the state’s only agreeing after being assured of certain authorities. Remember, the Constitution gives Congress the power to set uniform standards. Maine used to vote in September for President, the rest later, leading to the famous adage “as Maine goes, so goes the nation.” This worked, given the 1860-1908 period when only one Democrat won, and Maine, like most of the North, voted with the GOP.  

But eventually, Congress set a uniform day for presidential elections, leaving most of the other rules to be set state by state. This is why we have so many potential lawsuits right now, once again caused largely by each state setting its own rules for our national election for local reasons. It is not the best approach for America right now.

As a matter of realism, this isn’t going to change anytime soon. Thus, Virginia has to make a decision on principle here, there being no other compelling force. For example, Mr. Gingrich leads the GOP polls in Virginia and is either ahead or tied nationally.

Did Newt’s campaign bungle the petition drive? Yes. Does this suggest what kind of chaotic White House would exist, if for some reason Americans wanted Newt’s finger on the nuclear trigger (are we that nuts?)? Indeed.

But should Newt’s name be on the ballot in March given his political standing right now? Yes to that too.

Should Newt’s campaign stay viable, Virginians will thus be shortchanged come March. The Secretary of the Commonwealth should have the power to put legitimate candidates on the ballot if they meet some credible markers of support, without requiring petitions. Those not meeting this test would still have the petition route.

This would be a useful change for Virginia law, all upside, no downside.

Moreover: There is still time to make this change this year. The Governor should order the State Board of Elections to wait before starting to print the ballot. Based on my experience, they can wait until the middle of January 2012. This gives time for the General Assembly to change the law.

Democrats should help out here. It is not about Bachmann, Gingrich, Huntsman, Perry or Santorium. It is about the people and their right to choose. The shoe might be on the other foot someday for us Democrats. It also helps underscore the risk with all these ID laws which seem to have a partisan motivation.

We need as open and fair a process for the people, that’s the goal. Right now, the projected GOP presidential primary ballot doesn’t meet this standard. We can change it in time for the March GOP primary in 2012. The people win, no one loses. It just takes a little extra work.

I say do it.  

According to the Republican’t Party of Virginia:

*”After verification, RPV has determined that Rick Perry did not submit the required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary.”

*”After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary.”

With Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Jon Huntsman not even bothering to submit signatures for validation, this means that only Willard Mitt Romney (formerly known as the guy running to the LEFT of Teddy Kennedy!) and (conspiracy theorist, David Duke admirer, anti-Israel/pro-Ahmedinejad nutjob) Ron Paul have made it onto the Virginia’s March 6 “Super Tuesday” primary ballot. What a party! Heh.

True, it’s not easy to get on Virginia’s ballot, and true, Virginia’s primary could very well be meaningless anyway (my guess is that flip-floppin’ Willard “Mitt” Romney will have clinched the nomination well before then). Still…c’mon, if a presidential campaign can’t even manage to get on Virginia’s primary ballot (in Gingrich’s case, he wasted a couple precious days of the candidate’s precious time, diverting to Virginia in a last-ditch, desperate attempt to qualify), they certainly can’t handle the general election, let alone running the country. Just drop out now and stop wasting everyone’s time and money!

P.S. This is also yet another major FAIL for our old friend Jerry Kilgore, who headed up Rick Perry’s Virginia campaign. It’s ironic, as Kilgore’s tag line in 2005 was, “I trust the people…always have, always will.” Well, sorry Jerry, but “the people” elected Tim Kaine over you in 2005, and now they haven’t exactly flocked to your presidential candidate’s banner. Still feeling the trust? Heh.

P.P.S. Needless to say, Barack Obama easily made it onto the Virginia primary ballot — the only Democrat to do so.

UPDATE: In 2008, SIX Republicans (Paul, McCain, Thompson, Huckabee, Giuliani, Romney) made the Virginia presidential primary ballot; and in 2000, FIVE Republicans (Keyes, Bauer, Bush, McCain, Forbes) made it. In other words, Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer, Steve Forbes, Fred Thompson, and numerous others did what Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Jon Hunstman, and Rick Santorum couldn’t do — get on the Virginia Republican primary ballot!  Also, I’d point out that Jim Webb’s volunteers – led by the amazing Mary Detweiler – were able to get him on the primary ballot in 2006, without spending almost any money at all (fortunate, as Webb really didn’t have any!).

UPDATE #2: In 2004, the following Dems got on the Virginia primary ballot — Al Sharpton, John Kerry, Wesley Clark, John Edwards, Howard Dean, Joe Lieberman, Dennis Kucinich, Dick Gephardt, and even not-really-a-Democrat Lyndon Larouche.

UPDATE #3: And Newt, predictably, whines. What a pathetic LOSER!

A little earlier this afternoon, we got some excellent news, that is if you care about the rule of law and protection of peoples’ right to vote:

The Justice Department on Friday entered the divisive national debate over new state voting laws, rejecting South Carolina’s measure requiring photo-identification at the polls as discriminatory against minority voters.

The decision by Justice’s Civil Rights Division could heighten political tensions over the new laws, which critics say could depress turnout among minorities and others who helped elect President Obama in 2008. A dozen states this year passed laws requiring voters to present state-issued photo identification, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

So far, Virginia isn’t one of those dozen states, but don’t you worry, the Teapublicans are on top of the situation heading into 2012! That’s right, watch out, as Virginia Teapublican Del. Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg) has introduced this piece of crap legislation:

Elections; voting procedures; voter identification requirements; provisional ballots.  Provides that a voter who is unable to present one of the enumerated forms of identification may sign a sworn statement that he is the named registered voter he claims to be and then be allowed to vote a provisional ballot. Present law allows such a voter to vote an official rather than provisional ballot after signing such statement.

With voter participation already absurdly low, why on earth would we make it harder for people to vote in this country?  And no, there’s no serious problem with “voter fraud” in this country, that’s just a right-wing myth, like “the world’s actually not getting warmer” and “tax cuts pay for themselves.” In fact, it’s all about the Republican Party’s multi-decade war on voting rights, particularly against minorities, but also against young people and organized labor and pretty much anyone who might put up opposition to the Republicans’ 100% pro-corporate, anti-environment, anti-democratic (small “d”), anti-women, anti-GLBT, anti-immigrant (etc, etc, etc.) agenda. And, of course, this battle tends to flair up as we approach presidential election years, when the chances of Democratic victory increase with the numbers of Americans voting.  Funny how that works: when more people vote, Democrats do better; when fewer people vote, Republicans do better. Think about that one.

It looks like Virginia Republican primary voters, at most, will be choosing from a list of four pretty lousy contenders: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich. Since the state GOP has decided that candidates who submit at least 15,000 signatures of registered voters on valid petitions with at least 600 signatures from each of the 11 districts will be asumed to have qualified, only Romney is assured at this point to have met the qualifications, while Paul probably has. Perry and Gingrich turned in fewer than 12,000 signatures and still may not qualify for the ballot.

Even if all four appear on the March ballot, GOP voters have a pretty sorry lot to choose from. Each one of the four has disgusting baggage weighing down any run for the White House, but perhaps the most bizarre is Ron Paul.

Paul has finally been unmasked as the con man and conspiracy nut he is, not the kindly old libertarian he pretends to be. A 1993 newsletter released under his signature contains unbelievable vitriol and hate. In it he rails against the “new money” the government printed to thwart counterfeiters, calling it part of a plot to create one world government. He brags that he had earlier “laid bare the coming race war in our big cities,” the “federal-homosexual coverup on AIDS,” and “the Israeli lobby which plays Congress like a cheap harmonica.” Then, Paul promises he can save people from the coming disasters if they will simply send him $99.

Then there’s Mitt Romney. In recent days he has stated that he will not follow the usual practice of presidential contenders and release his tax returns. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why. The guy benefits from tax breaks for the uber-wealthy and doesn’t want the rest of us to know that.

Romney, perhaps the richest man to ever seek the presidency with a worth of $200 to $250 million, is getting richer by the day from the arrangement he made with  Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded. Bain still pays him a share of its profits, even though he has nothing to do with the firm now. Those profits are being taxed at very low income tax rates under a provision for hedge fund and private equity managers.

This particular tax break is known as the carried-interest loophole and allows privileged rich guys to treat the income they receive as capital gains, subject to a 15 percent tax rate. That particular loophole costs all the rest of us $4 billion a year.

If Rick Perry does make the ballot, well, anyone who watched any part of the interminable series of GOP debates saw vividly that Rick Perry is two sandwiches short of a picnic, all foam and no beer, a few channels short of cable…Enough said.

Newt Gingrich is perhaps the crassest of all the GOPers. When Jack Abramoff, just recently out of jail for world-class political corruption, calls you corrupt, you have just won the corruption Oscar. According to Abramoff, Gingrich “is…engaging in the exact kind of corruption that America disdains…Why are these guys getting all this money, why do they all become so rich?…Unfortunately Newt seems to play right into it.”

So, I present to you the field for the March GOP presidential primary in Virginia. Merry Christmas to all Virginia Democrats. We couldn’t have asked for a better present.