Now Gingrich misses the Virginia ballot

In my previous post, I reported that Rick Perry had missed making the Virginia primary ballot and predicted that Gingrich probably wouldn't get on that ballot, either. The determination has been made and Reuters has the story.

Leading Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has failed to meet the requirements to be in the presidential primary election in Virginia, where he resides, the state's Republican Party said.

Gingrich had been leading in a poll of Virginia voters and a spokesman for the former speaker of the House of Representatives defiantly pledged to run a write-in campaign for the March 6 vote. However, Virginia does not permit write-ins in primary elections, according to the state code.
...
A December 22 Quinnipiac poll for Virginia had Gingrich ahead with 30 percent of the vote, compared with 25 percent for Romney and 9 percent for Paul. Virginia is one of 11 states holding a primary or caucus on March 6.

After Gingrich staged two campaign events in the state last week, his campaign had been confident that he had made the ballot even as his last-minute scramble raised concerns about Gingrich's abilities to run a national campaign.

Newt was leading in the polls but won't be on the ballot--what a failure of organization! So much for him being the nominee.

As for who will be on the ballot, it's just Romney and Paul. That certainly gives the GOP primary voters a clear choice, one that Romney will most likely win.