Molly Riley/ReutersNewt Gingrich and his wife, Callista, leaving church after attending Christmas Mass in Washington. Mr. Gingrich will head back to Iowa on Tuesday to begin his campaign’s “Jobs and Growth” tour.6:03 p.m. | Updated Continuing to smart from its failure to get on the primary ballot in Virginia, Newt Gingrich‘s campaign said it would explore ways to persuade the Republican Party of Virginia to bend its rules and allow Mr. Gingrich and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who also failed to qualify, to join the only two names now on the ballot: Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
“It does call into question whether or not there are some flaws in the system,” said R. C. Hammond, a spokesman for Mr. Gingrich. He said he hoped that either Mr. Gingrich would appear on the March 6 primary ballot or that there would be a provision to write in his name.
But the primary rules are set by statute, and experts said Mr. Gingrich’s prospects were all but nil, requiring either an emergency act of the state legislature or a court ruling. To change the state’s election law on such short notice would require supermajorities in both houses once they reconvene Jan. 11. Ballots must be printed Jan. 21. Even though Republicans have a supermajority in the House, the Senate is evenly split 20-20 between the Democratic and Republican Parties.
The chances of a court ruling that would put Mr. Gingrich on the ballot or allow a write-in “seems like an incredibly long shot,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. “The courts are not likely to act on an emergency basis to entertain his suit. Maybe there’s a constitutional problem with Virginia laws, but I doubt a court would rule that way.’’
The Gingrich campaign, after first announcing that it had gathered enough signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, was embarrassed when the organizers of the vote said the campaign had missed the mark, and that there was no provision for a write-in.
The Gingrich campaign drew criticism over the Christmas weekend for comparing the failure to get on the ballot to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
“Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941: We have experienced an unexpected setback, but we will regroup and refocus with increased determination, commitment and positive action,” the national
campaign director, Michael Krull, wrote on the campaign’s Facebook page.
The failure pointed to hurdles in organizing that have beset the campaign since Mr. Gingrich suddenly surged to become a leading candidate, without the infrastructure that better-financed
and -organized rivals have had in place.
The next test of the Gingrich organization begins in Dubuque, Iowa, on Tuesday, when Mr. Gingrich kicks off a nine-day bus tour of the state to highlight his economic agenda. It was originally announced as a 44-stop barnstorming tour, but the schedule has been scaled back to about three stops a day. This will be the first time Mr. Gingrich has traveled by campaign bus. He also plans to let members of the news media aboard what the campaign earlier dubbed, in jest, the “Newt Talk Express.”
Also riding along will be family members of Mr. Gingrich and his wife, Callista. Mrs. Gingrich’s mother, Bernita Bisek, who lives in Wisconsin, will be aboard at the start of the tour.