I am on the net this a.m. doing a little research. I suddenly realized that Rick Perry now has two jobs-------Perry is doing his job as Governor of Texas and apparently very well.
governor.state.tx.us
This Governor and Candidate as well as all candidates except Romney and Paul will not be on the Virginia Primary Ballot unless there is a court ruling overturning the rules that were put in place for having a candidates name on the Virginia Primary ballot.
After months of watching the debates we in Virginia will not have the opportunity to exercise our right to support the Republican candidate of our choice in the Virginia Republican Primary.
This means that Republicans or independents or even disappointed Obama Democrats who voted for Obama and wished they had not have only two choices, Romney and Paul.
Did we in Virginia waste our time watching these debates? It appears so, if we cannot exercise our vote based upon knowledge about the candidates witnessed in the debates.
This is the short story as I understand it -----------On Oct.11th,2011 candidates were advised that they needed 15,000 qualified signatures to qualify for being on the Republican ballot for each voting district.
As best I can determine, candidates were not advised before Oct. 11th of this rule or regulation, it is not clear to me if this was a Republican party rule or if it was a State regulation.
The filing deadline was just before Christmas, Dec. 22nd.
I firmly believe that this is information that should have been given to candidates in the summer of 2011 to permit them to collect the needed signatures----this did not happen leaving candidates short of time to get the signatures needed.
Many Republicans will go to the Primary polls expecting to be able to vote in the Republican Primary for the candidate of their choice only to find they have no choice-------other than Romney and Paul.
Virginians have been disenfranchised of exercising their right to vote for anyone other than Ron Paul or Mitt Romney, and with no write-in's allowed. (Note this has no connection to the recent wins in Iowa or New Hampshire-------these filings were prior to those events.)
Their is now a lawsuit in which Perry, Gingrich, Huntsman, Santorum are said to have joined together to challenge this ruling and to have their names on the ballot and at bare minimum to write in. Write in's are not currently allowed.
This Friday, January 13th is the date that the court will hear Perry and the other candidates present their case-------if the court rules against Governor Perry and the other candidates-----the only two names on the ballot will be Romney and Paul with no write-ins allowed.
President Reagan had a big tent whereas the tent is being closed off if these rules/regulations are allowed to stand in Virginia or if the Republican Party within their Convention System does not amended their rules to allow for representation by all candidates.
We need that big tent, in fact I believe that both Romney and Paul should demonstrate their support of a big tent by supporting having all on the ballot.
mj |
