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Annnnnd now VA AG Cuccinelli is *not* backing changing the primary ballot.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  January 1st, 2012 at 10:15 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Interesting; and a pretty strong reversal from Saturday’s statement.

“I obviously feel very strongly that Virginia needs to change its ballot access requirements for our statewide elections,” Cuccinelli said in a statement.

“However, after working through different scenarios with Republican and Democratic leaders to attempt to make changes in time for the 2012 presidential election, my concern grows that we cannot find a way to make such changes fair to the Romney and Paul campaigns that qualified even with Virginia’s burdensome system.

“A further critical factor that I must consider is that changing the rules midstream is inconsistent with respecting and preserving the rule of law — something I am particularly sensitive to as Virginia’s attorney general.”

A blow to every campaign that isn’t Romney’s or Paul’s, of course. It also appears from this that Cuccinelli is falling into line with the VA GOP’s position that it didn’t do anything wrong in the first place. Motivations I will leave up to the individual reader, although I would suggest that there are alternatives to nefarious plots…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

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  • http://www.libertygirlusa.com libertygirlusa

    Legally, Cuccinelli is right on the law. It would be unfair to change the rules of the game at this point.

    Unfortunately, as a Virginian, I am very disappointed that none of my top candidates will be on the ballot. I live in Northern Virginia and have to deal with entire ballots where Democrats run unopposed. I was really looking forward to the Primary in 2012. Now, I only have one choice as Ron Paul is not qualified to be Commander in Chief considering his unwillingness to defend America.

    I will try to help out the Santorum campaign in South Carolina and neighboring states to make up for the fact that I don’t get a vote in this primary. Still hard to believe.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    …one heck of a book on this in a few years.

  • gator_hoo

    Between changing the rules in the middle of an election and changing how the rules are enforced in the middle of an election.

  • redhawk9

    You have the “prefered” establishment candidate and the “fringe” candidate being selected as the choices. Forget what the voters want or what the country needs to defeat NOBAMA-just remember that they’re smarter than the rest of us and they know better (and thats why we got saddled with McCain last election)

  • lightspeed

    along with the rest of the Republican establishment are determined to feed the nation a Mitt sandwich.

  • ghostship

    Let’s be honest. If it was Perry and Gingrich who had made the ballot but Romney and Paul who hadn’t most people raising a ruckus about it would have said the rules are the rules.

  • boonerdan

    Virginia’s issues need to be addressed by Virginians. I thought I read on this site that these rules were adopted in November. If true, so much for the “not wanting to change the rules in midstream” argument.

    Bottom line, the national electorate will simply ignore the results in VA. VA has marginalized themselves for the primary. Maybe they will learn a lesson for next time.

    Funny how it worked out for the party’s SELECTED candidate, isn’t it?

  • crosley

    If Cuccinelli was making noises about how “hard” it was to qualify on the ballot before all of this went down, it would at least make some sense. But this was always just about scoring some easy points to help with his own primary.

    Of course it would be unfair to change the rules on qualification for a ballot AFTER the deadline. How would you compensate the qualifying campaigns that devoted all of those resources and manpower?

    There was no “fix” here, it was just two incompetent campaigns that didn’t understand the rules, and it’s really no surprise as Perry’s campaign had a major shake up and Newt was just running a book tour that caught fire for a week.. Newt STILL didn’t understand the rules of his home state when he proclaimed he was going to mount a write in campaign when he found out he didn’t qualify.

    I understand people being upset because of how bad it reflects on the campaign, but to whine that it was some sort of grand conspiracy between the “Establishment” and Ron Paul is absurd.

  • stumpy

    marginalized themselves. Their delegates will still count, but hopefully the media will ignore them. Why is it everytime shenanegans go on Romney and/or Paul seem to be peaking around the corner? In this case, you have to cast the first look at Romney supporters. Something is rotten in Denmark.

    Does anyone know if uncommitted or write-ins are allowed in VA? If so, all other campaigns could encourage one of these methods to defeat Romney.

  • onemovoter

    to be helping a campaign that can’t get past Iowa, even with this supposed “bounce” that he’s having in the polls. He still isn’t having the crowds that other candidates are having, especially Perry.

    Last photo I was able to gleam was one in a coffee shop with about 25 people, and the rest are news folks.

    Many of us on Twitter have been keeping up on the dueling photos of crowds for each of the candidates. Only Perry, Romney and Paul have had 200-300 in their stops around Iowa. Gingrich hasn’t had that much going on but he’s getting good crowds as well.

  • stumpy

    Romney isn’t worried about Paul. It is clear that only Newt and Perry threaten him. Their campaigns deserve blame for not getting it done anyway, but the party was clearly trying to manipulate the process.

  • JSobieski

    The campaigns were specifically advised to get 15,000 qualifying signatures in case too many signatures were thrown out. Why not just get the signatures?

    I agree that blaming this on the Romney or Paul campaigns is silly.

  • seanl

    but it certainly sounds like he was pressured, which happens all the time in politics.

  • bdirks

    An entire book about how two campaigns for candidates who, let’s face it, probably won’t actively be on any ballots after Tuesday anyway, were too incompetent to get the requisite signatures for ballot access?

    A paragraph or two in the next Politico e-book under the section about the ineptness of Team Perry, maybe. But an entire volume on the subject?

  • stumpy

    I want Perry to win, but not because others don’t qualify. Competion improves the product. It also sows seeds of distrust and appathy on the supports of other candidates in the fall.

    Mitt will get almost all of the Republican vote in the fall, should he be the nominee, but the lack of passion will turn off the squishy center, making it harder to defeat Obama. Lack of passion is more damaging than being too right or left in a general election. The people that decide these races generally don’t follow politics with any depth. Passion is contagious (see Obama 2008). The people elected an unqualified, socialist because he promised hope and change, they didn’t like Bush and wanted to have a part in electing the first black President.

  • http://www.libertygirlusa.com libertygirlusa

    in Iowa. While I see what you are saying with the numbers, Iowa is still not a accurate prediction of outcome nationally by any means.

  • ashland_avenue

    Self inflicted injury

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    …but stop thinking so, well, provincially about things. The ins and outs of the 2013 Virginian gubernatorial race – which this incident is now part of – is a perfectly suitable subject for a book.

    Please try to keep up, OK? – Because pretty much everybody else here is aware that this is now as much part of the Bolling/Cuccinelli dust-up as it is the Presidential race.

  • http://www.libertygirlusa.com libertygirlusa

    Not as an excuse, but have you ever tried to get signatures from strangers with their names, addresses, and last digit of ss#? Also – in Northern Virginia where there are scarcely any Republicans let alone conservative Republicans?

    The rules are too stringent. I know you are arguing the law. I agree that the law cannot be changed midstream. However, auditing some signatures and not others is unacceptable.

    This is just a sad time for Virginia.

  • charlemagne1979

    Iowa and New Hampshire, it will be hard to break that momentum. At least it has been in the past.

  • http://libertymeansresponsibility.com(Pending) libertymeansresponsibility

    Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s AG, has sworn an oath to follow the law of his state and the US. However, in this case, while the law is valid, it makes a mockery of Virginia’s Republican Primary.

    Although it borders the nation’s capital, no candidate will campaign here in Virginia and as a result, Virginia’s primary will be a non-entity in the national media once the dust settles over the legal challenge mounted by the candidates who are not named Romney or Paul.

    This situation is but one example of an archaic process designed to find the standard bearer of one of the two major parties – note that if these candidates were Democrats and Obama was a Republican (A facetious analogy to be sure), the result would be the same.

    This situation comes a week before a caucus in Iowa that is about as backward as possible in terms of representing the true intentions of most Iowa Republicans.

    Imagine meeting in the middle of a large room with all of your fellow Republicans in your town or district and then being told to stand under the sign or banner of “your” candidate – publicly in front of your friends and neighbors.

    This goes counter to the principle of a secret ballot – which assures anonymity in voting – and (in my humble opinion) assures a larger voter turn-out.

    What makes this caucus even more absurd is that consistently, year after year, Iowa chooses the candidate first.

    While I do not begrudge Iowans their historic place in the voting order, I only ask that all states share the same process in selecting “their candidate”.

    I will not even begin to explain why or how we should change the Electoral College.

    As far as I am concerned, the entire election process needs a major overhaul to follow the spirit of the Declaration of Independence whether or not it is spelled out in states’ constitutions nationwide.

    Sorry, Virginians and my apologies to the people of Iowa.

  • charlemagne1979

    for another four years will generate all the necessary passion. I also believe if Romney wins, he will pick a strong conservative running mate to re-energize the conservative base.

  • charlemagne1979

    when it was inevitable for something like this to happen based on how your describing Northern Virgina. Why wasn’t anyone in the campaign speaking about this back in the spring or summer? Why wait until the aftermath?

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    Where have we heard that word before?

    The problem is that the RPV did not treat the candidates’ petitions the same. The chairman of the RPV issued a directive saying that if a campaign would just, pretty please, turn in 15K signatures instead of the actual 10K required by law, they wouldn’t have to go through all that extra work of checking their validity.

    “Any candidate who submits at least 15,000 signatures of registered voters on valid petitions statewide and has at least 600 signatures of registered voters on valid petitions from each of the 11 Congressional Districts shall be deemed to have met the threshold for qualification and will be certified (provided, of course, that other requirements of State law have also been met)?

    ?If any candidate submits fewer than 15,000 signatures of registered voters on valid petitions statewide or fewer than 600 signatures of registered voters on valid petitions in one or more of the 11 Congressional Districts, the Republican Party of Virginia will individually verify signatures until the 10,000 signature statewide threshold and/or 400 per Congressional district is met.?

    It appears that…no way, right? Romney’s is the only campaign that avoided scrutiny by the volunteer GOP inspectors who happened to walk in off the street that day.

    “RPV counted Governor Romney?s signatures, reviewed them for facial validity, and determined he submitted well over 15,000. Never in the party?s history has a candidate who submitted more than 15,000 signatures had 33 percent invalidated. The party is confident that Governor Romney met the statutory threshold.”

    If one candidate’s signatures must be validated then all of them must be. No giving special treatment to candidates who have been running a campaign in VA since the Johnson Administration. There’s no reason to believe that Romney didn’t get enough valid signatures, but we will never know, will we?That’s what I object to.

  • charlemagne1979

    no matter who the party chose as their candidate. I think the bigger picture is the lack of solid experienced candidates with records of real conservative values and fiscal responsibility. In addition, you also need someone who could actually debate.

  • stumpy

    that is true, but the passion will be anti-Obama, not pro-Romney. This will not has great of an impact as positive passion. I always hear the running mate will energize the base, but I don’t buy it. It provides a temporary bounce and serves as a good excuse to backtrack on earlier critisms, but doesn’t get the neighbor to neighbor conversation that is needed to get the squishies. It happens everytime we nominate one of these unless they run against a real dope. As much as I dislike Obama, he is a smooth operator when coupled with the MSM. He will run on lies and they will carry his water.

  • sunshinek67

    won’t finally coalesce around one candidate and knock him out should Iowa & NH go his way? No matter where he places in Iowa, the media will spin in his favor. The momentum is media driven to a large degree, don’t you think?

  • charlemagne1979

    anti-Republican not necessarily pro-Obama for many independents. Most of them voted based on what the economic environment was around that time not necessarily on what Obama was promising. remember prior to Fannie and Freddie, McCain was winning in almost every poll, after Fannie and Freddie he was behind in everyone. I think the tide has turned on Obama regarding that this time around. If the nominee plays his cards straight and capitalizes on it, then the Republicans stand a chance of winning.

  • sunshinek67

    sent in May, my question was is it possible that Team Perry didn’t receive this memo since he joined mid August? Is it relevant? My apologies if I missed an earlier post regarding this information. Thank you

  • JSobieski

    It is not a violation of the law to have 15,000 signatures be a safe harbor threshold for which counting is not required.

    Romney did not receive “special treatment”. Any of the other campaigns could have provided 15,000 signatures and received the same treatment.

    Your argument is the same argument that gay marriage advocates use. They argue that heterosexuals receive “special” treatment.

    The correct conservative response is that everyone is allowed to marry someone of the opposite sex.

    That logic applies here as well—any candidate could have availed themselves of the 15,000 treshold . . as specifically recommended by the Board of Elections.

  • JSobieski

    So the campaign had knowledge of it.

  • stumpy

    to primaries in my opinon. We have too many people voting that have no clue what they are voting for. Anyone posting on a political site obviously at least is involved in the process. I don’t want people to vote that have no real knowledge or interest in their decisions. A caucus at least requires a larger commitment and should get a higher quality voter. Some caucuses don’t make the ballot public anyway.

    Caucuses would not be good for a general, but they are preferred for primaries. The ability of a candidate to win one state and then launch to the top and get “the big mo” shows how easily swayed people are by a little sucess. I prefer the elimination style (similar to a brokered convention) to get a consensus pick. Romney could very likely win the nomination with only 25% true support. What if Newt is second with 23%, but the second choice of 60% of the rest with Mitt at 10%. Newt would be a much more representative pick, but would lose out anyway. State by state consenus picks would present a better nominee.

    We need more highly qualified voters, not just more voters. A vote made in ignorance is worse than no vote. First, do no harm.

  • JSobieski

    http://www.rickperry.org/content/uploads/2011/12/Perry-VA-Ballot-Access.pdf

  • Adjoran

    um, never, right, excluding challenged incumbents?

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior
  • Adjoran

    Every candidate had the same rules and the same opportunity. Six qualified in 2008, and then they HAD to get the last four digits of the SSN, which made many reluctant to sign petitions.

    If a campaign can’t qualify for a single state ballot as hundreds have before, given 24 weeks to do it, how can they say they could run the country?

  • MikeG

    This was a battle that Cuccinelli never had a chance of winning. However, winning was never the point of this little exercise.

    For starters, the VA GOP would never have allowed it, because doing so would have destroyed any last shred of credibility the party leadership has in claiming that ballot qualification is based on rules and the law, as opposed to being a purely political decision. Plus it would have amounted to a win for the AG in the first round of the 2013 gubernatorial primary fight, and too many members of the legislature and party establishment are in the camp of Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling.

    Even if the above were not true, the VA Democrats would have quietly killed any emergency legislation, for the very simple reason that the present chaos works to their advantage. The RPV continues to looks buffoonish, and down-ticket this year, the Democrats are looking to hold onto an open Senate seat and maybe pick up one or two of the congressional districts they lost in 2010. In the event that Romney wins the nomination, a bunch of disaffected Perry and Gingrich supporters are going to be asking themselves if it is really worth the effort to go out and volunteer this fall, or even just to show up at the polls. The positive effects that would have for the state Democrats’ political objectives cannot be overstated.

    Plus the Democrats are still pissed that the GOP used Bolling’s tie-breaking vote in the State Senate to flip the majority, so they might just do it out pique.

    All that being said, I suspect that Cuccinelli knew the ultimate futility of pushing for emergency legislation to get the other candidates on the ballot. He has accomplished what he set out to do: he’s differentiated himself from the party leadership and endeared himself to Perry and Gingrich supporters and those who generally despise the political establishment. Now all that is left is to avoid demonstrating weakness by getting into a pissing contest that he cannot win. Hence today’s reversal.

  • Adjoran

    It was incorrect.

  • charlemagne1979

    the momentum will be in Romney’s favor assuming he wins both states. He will have the money and ground support to back him up. And off course the media will have declared him the winner by then. Its like a snow ball effect. It will take a lot for someone to turn that around. That would mean that most of the other candidates will have to drop out by the time South Carolina comes around and unite against Romney. Yes, its possible but highly unlikely. Your 100% correct with the momentum being mainly media driven. This is why many states will start voting for the winning candidate by the time the primaries come to them despite who they intended to originally vote for. Remember what happened to Guilliani in FL in 2008.

  • JSobieski

    as recommended by the Board of Elections.

  • Adjoran

    Denis Kucinich did it for the Democrats in 2008, as did six Republicans – and every candidate for US Senate or in the Presidential primary for the last 40 years (the Presidential is of more recent origin).

    It’s not that hard, and shouldn’t be for someone who claims they are competent to run the whole country, is it?

  • Adjoran

    Just that some weren’t focused on the deadlines and qualifying for the later primary ballots.

    We call that “incompetence,” not trickery.

  • Adjoran

    But you are not, and he will not.

  • MikeG

    But given the number of political scientists working and teaching in Virginia, I’d be surprised if only ONE book is published about this fiasco. It’s got the perfect combination of PR disaster and inside baseball/political arcana. Larry Sabato probably has the first five chapters outlined already!

  • charlemagne1979

    no GOP candidate has ever won both. My argument is that if they did, they would have the momentum, money and media on their side.

  • Adjoran

    In fact it was relaxed in 2010, before that the last 4 digits of Social Security Number was required for identification, and many people were hesitant to give that when they signed.

    So it’s an easier task than all prior years’ candidates had to meet.

    Your idea of trampling state constitutions is not conservative IMO.

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    Isn’t this just asking for cheating? Why not just get only half of each petition filled with valid voters if you know they’re not going to be checked? I’m not saying Romney’s campaign cheated, but again, due to the unequal treatment of the actual signatures, we’ll never know.

  • Adjoran

    to change the law AFTER the petition deadline just because some candidates are incompetent.

    Cooch sobered up.

  • sunshinek67

    I have read certain parts of the lawsuit with the holiday schedule. I find it disturbing that 20,000+ Virginians that made clear they wanted choices on their ballots are not having the opportunity to do so.

    Not turning in signatures or missing a filing deadline is one thing, but to actually turn in a petition with thousands of signatures is another. Voter participation should be encouraged, not suppressed. The underlying problem here is, there was an honest effort by two campaigns to have their petitions verified. The “rules” threw out these signatures because an i wasn’t dotted, or a t wasn’t crossed, wrong paper form, etc.

    You can argue all day long as to where the responsibility lies, rule of law, “rules are rules” whatever, at the end of the day Democracy is being thwarted because of onerous restrictive “rules” attempting to define and dictate an election outcome.

    “Democracy in its purest or most ideal form would be a society in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.”

    Lack of “equal say” by all members of the voting populous supercedes this silly blame game. Telling me that it is the fault of Perry or Gingrich campaigns falls on deaf ears. Count the petitions. Let Democracy work.

    Again I say, I want my candidate to win on merit, not by default.

  • sunshinek67

    from the Commonwealth of Virginia and we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

  • texastaxpayer

    you are right. Are you a lawyer practising in Virgina specializing in electoral law? If not and you are like I suspect someone forming their “opinion” on what they have read online. I would be careful about issuing absolute statements. You can be sure Perry has professionals managing this suit. They think he has enough of a chance to file. Just saying…

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    OTOH…the wretched, non-stop commercials and phone calls right before Christmas would be a steep price to pay.

  • JSobieski

    What I don’t get is why neither Newt nor Perry submitted 15,000 signatures as recommended by the VA Board of Elections.

    They could have benefited from the “Romney” standard and gotten a pass,

    Totally agree that it is a stupid law. The irony of 10th Amendment guy like Perry filing the lawsuit that he did would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

  • JSobieski

    nt

  • JSobieski

    None of the arguments you are making are made in the Perry Complaint but there is no legal validity to those arguments.

    Have you read the camplaint?

  • sunshinek67

    it was 10,000. Those signatures that were tossed arbitrarily is circumventing Democracy. Blame the campaigns, you are. At the end of the day, 20,000+ voters in Virginia do not have choices, not having equal say. That should be the main issue to you in these threads. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

  • sunshinek67

    and I have thrown it out for typo/discrepancy.

  • JSobieski

    The key legal precedent cited by the Perry legal team is Buckley v. ACL.

    The link for the US Supreme Court decision is provided below:

    http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=97-930

    I think the lawsuit is seeking as much to embarass the VA GOP into changing their threshold value than it is to actually prevail. However, the judge is a D appointee, and we know how flimsily D judges treat legal requirements.

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    : )

    From your comment back yonder:

    “The party chairman then ?shall, by the deadline set by the State Board, furnish to the State Board the names of all candidates who have satisfied the requirements of this section.? By what standard or standards? None are specified. I see nothing in the statute that says the state party chairman must provide anything other than ?the names of all candidates who have satisfied the requirements of this section? and nothing that gives the Board any authority to reject those names. (I have not read the entire election code.)

    And “teme” helpfully posted this via Hot Gas:

    “A Gingrich campaign official, prior to the move by the RPV, said the problem is how the rules are set up, arguing that the party is, for apparently the first time, cross-checking the addresses that signature-givers provided against the electronic voter database file for accuracies. A name without a proper address match was tossed, the official said.”

    As a poll worker in Ohio, it has frustrated me to no end that the rules are so lax for voter ID. The biggest problem in Ohio is that you can vote with a cable bill you find in someone’s trash can. No one can prove it’s not happening (and the Dems declare, ‘Why no! That never happens!), which essentially, puts the election on the honor system.

    That’s what they’ve done in VA by not checking Romney’s signatures.

    The only way for the RPV to assure voters that there has been no foul play and that all candidates received equal treatment is to have a big, fat, ugly, hanging chad shindig. It’s a made for C-SPAN movie.

  • texasref

    We will be so UNenergized that who he picks for the pitcher of warm spit slot won’t matter.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    Maybe some R’s are learning the wrong lessons form the D’s?

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    And was surprised that they didn’t raise the issue of not verifying Romney’s signatures. If they’d have asked me… : )

    To me, the most interesting argument in the complaint is that under the current rules, Perry (and every other candidate except Newt) is prohibited from circulating his own petitions because he’s not a VA resident. How can a law prevent that? I mean, with a straight face.

    That said, it’s after the fact and everyone knew the rules going in. Someone should have figured this out sooner and challenged it before the day after the petitions were due.

    OTOH, who knows what the courts will do. It’s the tendency to allow greater ballot access for any citizen who has shown even the most remote interest in voting to have his vote counted. That’s the wild card at this point. We shall find out soon enough if the undrafted free agents are signed.

  • sunshinek67

    I had to laugh at that one, charlemagne (love your user name btw), there has been an imaginary coronation for some time now. Perry media blackout, in particular Fox. So what’s the difference? Well, the difference is, Perry still has a huge base of support, underreported, that do not want to see him drop out any time soon, regardless of Iowa placement and media narratives.

  • sunshinek67

    would feel about expression of “rules” returning to pre-October 2011. As a matter of fact in his public comments, very little, if anything said about voter expression, participation just overall concern over the “feelings” of the Romney/Paul campaigns. Lol what a joke

  • drfredc

    So I guess the VA GOP is going with the rules… No big there, except it’s not likely to win much support for the Virginia GOP who aren’t for Romney or Paul. On the other hand, the VA GOP as eliminated the need for anyone else to waste much money or support in Virginia — save it up for some other primary. Let Mitt do battle with the Ronulans… Hopefully, they’ll both find some time to actually take on Obama instead of taking down each other…

  • mccoypauley

    Newt’s surge and money came very late, whereas Perry was flush with cash and consultants pretty much from Day 1.

    I don’t know if his campaign has been run poorly, but they certainly don’t have the results they hoped for.

    Around here, it looks like 75% of Red State is hoping he can pull of a miracle 3rd finish in Iowa to go to NH where he won’t matter at all.

    I cannot fathom a scenario where Perry wins SC with a 3rd in Iowa and a worse finish in NH.

  • penhall99

    Could Perry still win the primary if he’s left off the VA ballot? Or would it be almost impossible?

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    This marginalizes VA more than it hurts the candidates.

  • http://moelane.com/ Moe Lane

    …would like to make the case that being on the VA ballot is required for getting the nomination, the truth of the matter is that it’s one primary out of over fifty and there’s an excellent chance that neither candidate on the VA ballot will be the frontrunner by the time said primary rolls around.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    VA just won’t be an interesting story that day.

  • penhall99

    I feel better now!

  • penhall99

    I feel better now!

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    The courts don’t get to rule on the wisdom of the law.

    And the ex post facto law restriction is narrower than that. Remember Clinton’s tax hikes?

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula

    to respond to Cuccinelli’s press release.

    In an official VA Lt. Gov. press release, Bolling launches the next shot.

    “Needless to say, I am pleased that Attorney General Cuccinelli has abandoned his call for legislative changes to Virginia’s ballot access requirements in advance of the Republican presidential primary in March. While I do not object to the General Assembly considering changes to our ballot access requirements for future elections, it would have been inappropriate to make such changes in the middle of the current presidential nominating process. That would have been terribly unfair to Governor Romney and Congressman Paul, both of whom successfully complied with these requirements and filed a sufficient number of legal petition signatures to qualify for the Virginia ballot.

    “Going forward, I would also encourage Attorney General Cuccinelli to avoid making public statements that criticize our state election laws while his office is defending the State Board of Elections in a lawsuit that has been brought against them by Governor Perry and certain other presidential candidates. I am concerned that such public comments could be used against the Commonwealth in our effort to defend these lawsuits, and I am confident that the Attorney General would not want to do anything that could jeopardize his office’s ability to win this case.”

    First, this lecture directed at Cuccinelli by Romney’s VA campaign chair is tacky and makes the optics of the situation even worse for VA. Why would this come from Bolling rather than the Governor?

    However, it had’t occurred to me that Cuccinelli would be defending the state on Perry’s lawsuit. That’s awkward. It may explain Cuccinelli’s backtracking.

  • pttx333

    cc

  • JSobieski

    Cuccinelli never expressed agreement with the arguments of the Perry lawsuit. I tried to point this out, but people confused his suggestion that the law be changed with his embrace of the Perry lawsuit.

    The VA is poorly thought out in Cuccinelli’s view, but that doesn’t make it unconstitional as argued by Perry.

    Apparently the judge in the case was considering removing Cuccinelli from the case on the basis of some of his public comments (which were fine in my view, but were threading the needle).

  • http://www.timothy-bladel.com/ center77

    so if that is the case, then that whole well the law thing is not really a valid argument. I know this, Romney is going to lose a whole lot of conservatives if he is the nominee, because I hear all the time everywhere people say they will sit it out, and even if I assume 90% will fall in line, that is still ten percent that I am wondering if they will even bother. Romney will not pick up enough independents to win, and since Fox seems to want to have either the bad guy Obama or the bad guy Romney to keep their ratings through the next 4 years they get what they want, then they will blame it on conservatives that Obama is president, which in a way will be right because conservatives did not get behind their strongest candidate that meets almost everything they wanted in a candidate but some instate tuition and Gardasil shot. If Iowa conservatives send Santorum up against Romney, they do not deserve to win anyhow, and Romney will have already won.

    Why is my state so stupid, and why do I always seem to see the grand scheme to take us down, am I just seeing this, or have we really just screwed ourselves?

  • MikeG

    Both Cuccinelli and Bolling intend to seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2013, as Gov. McDonnell is constitutionally prohibited from seeking re-election. As soon as Cuccinelli first criticized the outcome of the qualification process, it took on the additional quality of serving as an opening proxy battle between the two camps, especially since the RPV establishment (and Gov. McDonnell) is considered to be largely behind Bolling. This constitutes Bolling’s counter-punch, and from the look of things, both men appear to be staying within the anticipated dynamic of their upcoming campaign: Cuccinelli characterizing himself as the principled conservative outsider and his opponent as creature of the “business-as-usual” establishment, with Bolling presenting himself as a sober, experienced statesman and painting the attorney general as a grandstanding publicity hound.

    I suspect Gov. McDonnell wishes to remain above the fray as much as possible, since unless he becomes Vice President, it is assumed he will challenge US Sen. Mark Warner (D) in 2014. Whether Cuccinelli wins or loses, McDonnell will want to avoid antagonizing his supporters as much as possible.

  • Scope

    Since 2004 the DNC has waived the signature number requirement for any Democrat running for any election in VA down to 4-5,000 signatures. Dennis K did not have to collect 10,000 signatures. You see, the DNC has the ability to waive the requirement even though it is the “law” here in VA, and so does the RNC or even state GOP if they wanted to. Just as the VA GOP asked permission of the State Board of Elections to have all GOP primary voters sign a “loyalty oath” which is meaningless and toothless. The State Board granted that permission even though it was not at least 90 days from the primary as required by “law.”

  • Michael Dugas

    They didn’t have any problem changing them in November in the middle of campaigning. I believe this was purposefully to exclude whoever they could to aid Romney. VAGOP should be ashamed of themselves.

  • Scope
  • Scope

    is that the signatures must be from qualified voters. If someone signed the petition, but has not yet updated a changed address, they are still considered a “qualified” voter as long as they update their address with the State Board prior to the primary election. A part of the process that was gone through with checking the signatures with addresses on the database, was that if an address did not match, the signature was discarded, even though the person was/is a qualified registered voter.

  • http://www.libertygirlusa.com libertygirlusa

    I thought you suggestion about a book was a good one. Agree with Mike that it won’t be on the NYT best seller list, but I have read plenty of books analyzing campaign activity. I studied campaign management in undergrad.

  • http://www.libertygirlusa.com libertygirlusa

    In the big scheme of things it won’t matter much. I think we have 60 delegates. The biggest impact it has made is to disenfranchise thousands of conservative Republican voters who can’t vote for Paul and won’t vote for Romney.

    I am more than a little bitter that my vote will not count in this so important election.

  • http://www.libertygirlusa.com libertygirlusa

    n/t

  • votemout2012

    All I can say if Romney gets the primary my enthusiasm goes to zero. When the RNC calls and ask will you volunteer you time or money the answer will be no. I will not give this liberal democrat one second of my time. He is not a problem solver he is a compromiser on principles exactly what we DON’T need.

  • stumpy

    even Romney has a chance. His chance is smaller than any other except Paul. He is Obama’s perfect villian. I admire Romney’s sucess at Bain, but it will greatly impact him in a general election. He doesn’t relate to voters. That is why he finished third to an unknown Ark. Governor and a moderate in the truest sense of the word.

    Also, the Iraq surge was the reason for McCain’s early sucess. Once the story moved to economics, he was toast given that Obama predictably recieved no vetting from the MSM.

  • MikeG

    :-)

  • metairiemike

    Rasmussen (who has predicted the winners, usually within one or two percentage points, in every national election in the past decade) has consistently reported that Romney is supported by a sizable majority of the independents that voted for obama in 2008. Even a PPP poll (an admittedly a democrat leaning polling outfit) in a 20 December poll showed Romney getting 45% of the independent vote to obama?s 36%. Rasmussen polls for months have consistently shown that Romney would pick up a majority of younger voters (who enthusiastically went for obama in 2008) and a November 2011 survey by Pew showed that ?Millenials? and other younger voters who voted for obama in 2008 by a whopping 34% over John McCain now (in November) approved of obama by only 49% and their enthusiasm obama is down to ?obama who?? status. More importantly, Gallup polls since August have shown that either Romney and Gingrich leads obama in the 12 ?swing? states that will actually decide the next election. Since Gallup uses ?Registered Voters? and not ?Likely Voters? like Rasmussen, the results would likely be even more skewed in favor of any candidate other than obama.
    Bottom line is, reputable polls have consistently shown Romney beating obama. To state ?Romney can?t beat obama? is like stating the Mayan Calendar says the world will end on 22 Dec 2012 or Nostradamus predicts the Eifel Tower will topple over in 2013 or the Detroit Lions will win the Superbowl: it?s an interesting statement but it?s hardly something I would base my retirement investment strategy on. When and if Rasmussen has a poll showing obama ahead of Romney outside of the margin of error in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri or Virginia, I?ll reconsider. And those of you still trying the old ?He can?t win? because too many of us will ?sit this election out? should consider how your support (yes, SUPPORT) for obama will affect your children?s future.

  • sta46

    should vote for Ron Paul. About 50% of the voters in VA identify themselves as conservative and about 50% of the Republican voters as well.
    This is a move by the R establishment to cement their lucrative and cushy positions in DC. Do you really think McConnell, Graham, Boehner and the rest of the RINOS want to be sent home without pay till they deliver a BBA? Not only no, but hell no.
    If every conservative in VA voted for Ron Paul, fool though he may be, it would keep the electoral votes away from Romney and effectively render the VA primary an exercise in futility for the “establishment” and their RINO darling.
    Call all your friends.

  • stumpy

    Changing the requirements in November indicates some people were trying to manipulate the process. That is the shenanigan I am referring to, not the signature collection.

  • renl57

    Whenever an incumbent runs for re-election, the outcome hinges more on whether the voters think enough of him to give him a second term–more than on his opponent.

    It’s always “Throw the bum out” when an incumbent loses, not “Gee, the other guy sounds decent.”

    That was the case in 1968 (anger over LBJ/Humphrey Vietnam), 1980 (anger over Carter stagflation), 1988 (anger over Bush 41 recession)–and now.

    The voters don’t have to love Romney–or Perry or Gingrich. They just have to be reassured that the guy is not a nutcase or a flake (which would be difficult in the case of Ron Paul).

    Beyond that, they have to decide if they want Obama to continue for another 4 years.

    The rest is secondary.

  • JSobieski

    See Florida 2000, and New Jersey whenever the Torch left.

    We are either a nation of laws, or a nation of hanging chads.

    If you don’t want stupid laws, tell the legislature to stop making stupid laws.

    VAs election laws have been on the books for YEARS.

  • sunshinek67

    circumventing Democracy thus making your argument fall on deaf ears. :)

  • naraht

    The VA Senate is going to be screwy enough with the VG having to break ties. Trying to ram something like this which has go through ASAP… (And that assumes that Bolling *wants* to help).

  • usastandup

    the author’s reference and statements.

    “Section ? 24.2-520. Declaration of candidacy required has a requirement that the candidate file a written declaration and, interestingly, has the candidate agree that if he loses the primary his name may not appear on the general election ballot. So, no third party ?sour grapes? candidate allowed if you lost a primary. An interesting law.”

    Someone could push this against RP should he insanely choose to run on a 3rd party ticket.
    IMHO

  • JSobieski

    We have laws about ballot access to avoid people from gaming the ballots. NH has had 60 people on the ballot before. During the CA recall of Davis, I believe there may have been around 100 candidates for governor.People start doing things like changing their names to be identical to the favored candidate, etc.

    We have laws to determine what constitutes a vote. The alternative is hanging chads, and fathoming the “intentions” of the voter.

    VA’s election laws have been on the books for years. Nobody cared bout them until certain key campaigns failed to meet the requirements. Now they are a cause of stifling voter participation?

    The stakes in an election are always more important than whatever administrative process one puts into place to cover the election. That is why every election law dispute can basically copy and paste the arguments you have provided above.

  • snowshooze

    I believe is a bit closer.

  • naraht

    I think this has as much to do with Cuccinelli vs. Bolling than anything else. And Bolling and the Democrats together can scuttle *any* change that attempts to go through the Legislature.

    The Democrats in this case are largely just grabbing popcorn and hoping the fight goes on as long as possible. If they can keep this fight going to November 2013, they’ll have succeeded.

  • parkfairfax

    Maybe a nice article to be required reading for a civics class in Virginia, but nothing more. This will be but a footnote in the campaign. Florida was a bigger deal in 2008 than this, but even that didn’t really matter in the end.

    The campaign will be over by the day after “Super Tuesday” and Virginia won’t matter.

  • parkfairfax

    It is far more likely that people will assume that Romney will win and you will see endorsements roll in. People want to be on the good side of a winner for posh appointments, money and prestige. There will be the “anti-Romney” sentiment, just as there was the “anti-McCain” but by the time enough people drop out to coalesce, the last standing opponent will be too far behind in money, delegates and air time to do anything. The schedule is too compressed for that to work. Huckabee stuck around in that role in 2008 and surpassed Romney, but to what end?

    I’m undecided, certainly not voting for Romney or Paul, but acknowledge that if Romney wins IA and NH, the narrative changes and resources dry up elsewhere. If Romney were to finish 3rd in IA and get a close challenge in NH, then all bets are off. He wins both, then it takes a scandal to stop that ship.

  • parkfairfax

    Well said, especially the last line. As much as I doubt Romney, I trust his selection of judges and laws over Obama. That’s not saying much, but enough to pull the lever.

  • parkfairfax

    Newt has been in the campaign longer, but Perry has a “better ground game” according to the pundits. If neither can do what others did in the past (check the names of some that made the cut), then taking a step back in organization and capacity is not going to beat the Obamachine and Dimocrats.

  • parkfairfax

    There would be endless jokes about Paul’s minions and Mitt’s inability to get signatures in the past 5 years.

    I would prefer all candidates to be on the line and am unsure why it must be so strict, but to complain about the rules after the deadline is pure politics at it’s worst.

  • parkfairfax

    Others of less prominence made the cut then with more stringent signature rules.

    It is a sad time for Virginia? It’s a sad time for Republicans whose candidates appear incompetent. All of our candidates should be there and we cannot vote for them due to their failure to adhere to the rules.

    Let the Dimocrats whine about following the rules. Republicans are for self responsibility. Gingrich’s reaction has been sad.

  • sunshinek67

    Just as Bush in 2000 wanted his military overseas ballots from
    Florida, in particular, counted when they were thrown out for silly reasons akin to this VA debacle. Bad optics.

  • ltnowis

    Generally, you write your choice on a piece of paper, put it in a box, and they count it up. The Democrats have a more complicated process

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/12/27/an_iowa_caucus_primer_how_the_process_works_112543-2.html

  • polarglen

    . . . is as Romney’s VA Campaign Manager. Enough said.

  • JSobieski

    The fact that it was poorly enforced for years, or that the technological tools to do things like cross-validate addresses are new doesn’t negate that key fact.

    The VA Board of Elections said in May 2011 “get 15,000-20,000 signatures to be safe”

    Neither Newt nor Perry heeded the advice, and they were burned for it.

    Small businesses live with all sorts of these legal gotchas. They go for the safe harbor solution, and avoid problems.

    Any campaign that didn’t shoot for the 15,000 signatures was taking a needless risk, and they got burned for it.

  • metairiemike

    Suggesting Conservatives vote for Ron Paul is like asking the concentration camp inmates to vote for Heinrich Himmler or The Judean People’s Front to vote for the Romans (because they hate the People’s Front for Judea) or suggesting Jerry vote for Tom because Tom Cats also likes to eat small flightless birds. Ron Paul is not a Republican or a Conservative, he’s a classic isolationist libertarian with an anti-semitic bent. He has admitted he fears building a fence across our southern border because “that fence can be used to keep us in.” How paranoid is that! My greatest fear with a President Paul would be him going after the government institution that he fears and loaths the most; the US Military. Isolationists hate the military because it can, and (in their mind) has been and would be used for evil. Emasculating the US military would be a big step (in his mind) toward eliminating the very real threat (in his mind) of a military coup in Washington. Along with, of all people, Barney Frank, he advocated reducing our military to (effectively) about 1/3 its current capability. This would go a long way toward making sure we can’t get entangled in foreign problems like Iranian nuclear weapons (after all, they will probably only be used on Isreal), mainland China invading Taiwan (or Japan or the Philippines for that matter); or North Korea attacking South Korea; or Vladamir Putin’s Russia invading Poland or Ukraine. After all, those problems pale in comparison to the real problems we have right here such as those black helicopters buzzing all over the sky at night scaning our minds or how to counter the affects of the shadow government using the technology from those crashed alien space shipsthat alter our brain waves turning us all into robot slaves to serve the Elders of Zion. What could possibly go wrong ………

  • Scope

    VA Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is Romney VA Campaign manger.

  • charlemagne1979

    Romney will not re-energize the conservative base, Obama will. I think if Romney wins and chooses a more conservative running mate, then that will also help. You may not be re-energized, but I am sure the majority of conservatives will, knowing what is as stake. I fear another four years of Obama especially since at least one justice (Kennedy) may retire by then. The last thing we need is a liberal supreme court. Even though Romney has a history of choosing liberal justices while Mass governor, I do not think he will alienate his party especially with a Republican Senate. A 5-4 conservative-liberal supreme court for the next decade at least gives me some hope.

  • mikeymike143

    although i think your analogy that ”asking a conservative to vote for ron paul is like asking a concentration camp inmate voting for heinrich himmler” was the best one i have seen.

    i agree that no conservative should vote for that left wing racist in any primary.

  • texasref

    Yep, couldn’t have said it better myself. Yet you continue to argue that Romney could possibly do anything to re-energize the conservative base.

    The only thing Romney could do to re-energize the conservative base would be to drop out today.

  • rmiddle

    McCain Numbers looks decent against Obama at one point as well. Once Romney “wins” the primary the Media and Obama will focus Entirely on him and those numbers will drop. Compared to everyone else in the primary he has been hit the least and has the most to drop. Granted I think Romeny would have been better then McCain in 2008 but several other candidate would be better then Romeny in 2012.

    In the end it doesn’t matter what I think because in Maryland we vote pretty late in the process and by that point it will likely be to late in the process.

    Thanks
    Robert

  • snowshooze

    Nio text.

  • juandeveras

    “Northern Virginia Lawyer.blogspot.com” suggested on 12/28 in advance of Perry’s lawyers choosing a federal court venue, that the local Richmond City Circuit Court would be preferable over a federal court venue because: 1. The Virginia Code section in question for presidential primary candidates (24.2-545 B) is less demanding than the one for statewide elections ( the necessary signatures were supplied, but many were disallowed for erroneous reasons ). The only reason RPV even allegedly checked signatures ( they have not done so before ) was because an applicant to the legislature named Osborne sued RPV October 2011. This set of new rules was a reaction to the suit. So RPV changed the rules effective Dec. 22, 2011, creating a separate standard for the subsequent candidates over the previously-approved Romney & Paul. There has been a business relationship since 2007 between Romney and Pat Mullins, head of RPV ( see www.horseinsurance.com,www.dressagedaily.com,www.phelpsphotos.com). Mullins sent out request for approval by signature early in 2011 which some say was under false pretenses, and one wants to file a class action seeking to have all obtained signatures deleted. 2. That to bring up junk constitutional issues ( as has occurred in the federal court filing already submitted ) will take longer than the immediacy required to address this matter ( which is merely a determination of the meaning of a state statute), thus preventing a ruling prior to when absentee ballots have to go out at end of January. Unless the venue is changed, especially after the federal court judge’s yesterday, it has been suggested that Perry’s ( and possibly the other four ) suit is “doomed”. All 5 could possibly still get on ballot if venue was changed. ( I’m not a lawyer)

  • deVere

    http://www.therightscoop.com/mark-levin-virginia-ballot-fiasco-is-intentional-to-help-romney/

  • Scope

    Please read this article which quotes some people who were actually in the room when the petition signatures were being verified. It will make your hair stand up. The VA GOP chair must resign, as he is most definitely at the heart of the “let’s make Virginia irrelevant” debacle. He has made VA elections into a laughingstock.

    I read a comment on another website where the person said that Pat Mullins, VA GOP cahir, had business ties to Mitt Romney. I excused it as not credible, because they didn’t provide any links to back up that claim. Someone here did link to a site from a Norther VA lawyer, who has been writing prolifically about the ballot mess. He actually provides links to the business dealings between the two. One is for an equine insurance agency here in VA, and another is for a dressage horse site. I remember reading about Mitt’s wife’s very expensive habit in importing horses for Ann’s hobby. If I am not mistaken, Mullins earns his living from running an insurance agency, or at least did in the past. Mr. Mullins is an elderly gent who has been involved in VA politics, in one capacity or another, for more than 50 years.

    I agree with Levin, but I will say, there is more than one rat involved in this debacle, and Mullins is only one of them.