Cuccinelli Wants to Intervene in Virginia Primary Ballot Dispute

Speaking of delusional Republicans, here in Virginia it often seems to be a race for who can be the most crazy and most supportive of theocracy. Two of the main contenders are current attorney general Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli and Del. Bob Marshall, the later having introduced a "personhood" bill for the coming General Assembly session. Apparently, not wanting to be over looked, Kookinelli is looking to jump into the GOP primary ballot dispute which is poised to keep Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich off the ballot since they failed to get their respective acts together and get sufficient signatures to be placed on the ballot. Kookinelli always wants to be in the limelight, so it's a good guess that he doesn't give a rat's ass about Perry or Gingrich but sees the dispute as a way to keep his name in the press and on the lips of the increasingly untethered from reality stalwarts of the Republican Party of Virginia. The Virginian Pilot looks at Kookinelli's efforts at self-promotion. Here are highlights:

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said Saturday that he favors emergency legislation to allow more Republican presidential candidates on Virginia’s primary ballot. “Hundreds of thousands of Virginians who ought to be able to have their choice among the full field of presidential primary contenders now only have a choice among two,” he said. “Virginia owes her citizens a better process.”

Virginia’s ballot-access requirements have come under scrutiny after state GOP officials recently determined former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to submit petitions bearing 10,000 valid voter signatures, disqualifying them from the primary.

Fox News Channel reported that his proposal would allow candidates who fell short of the signature requirement onto the ballot if the Virginia State Board of Elections certifies that they are qualified to receive federal matching funds – public money offered to candidates who meet certain requirements demonstrating broad public support. The change would allow all the major presidential candidates onto the ballot.

Later Saturday, Cuccinelli said, “Any proposal is still in flux. Some sort of requirement for ballot access – such as candidates being eligible to receive presidential election campaign federal matching funds – is still needed, whether for 2012 or beyond.”

The General Assembly would need to hold a special session this week to pass the legislation in time for the printing of primary ballots, . . . Emergency legislation must gather a supermajority of four-fifths votes from the House of Delegates and the Senate, according to the state constitution.

McDonnell is open to last-minute efforts to reform the state’s primary ballot requirements, his spokesman Tucker Martin said Saturday. But Martin questioned why most of the GOP presidential candidates failed to meet the state’s long-standing ballot requirements.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Romney supporter, said changing the ballot requirements now would be unfair to the candidates who gathered enough signatures. Bolling, who will be running against Cuccinelli for the Republican nomination for governor in 2013, said any changes to the ballot rules should wait until future elections. “You can’t change the rules in the middle of the game just because you don’t like the result,” Bolling said.

Perry filed a lawsuit to have his name added to the ballot, but a U.S. District Court judge scheduled a hearing in that case for Jan. 13, four days after the ballots are to be printed.

Perry’s campaign applauded Cuccinelli in a statement Saturday: “Virginia’s onerous and restrictive ballot access rules do create serious constitutional problems and undermine the rights of citizens and candidates.”

Also Saturday, lawyers for Gingrich, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum joined Perry in asking the Board of Elections and the Republican Party of Virginia to be added to the presidential ballot.

Virginia's requirements have been around for many years. Hence, one has to wonder why so many candidates - or their campaigns - were so incompetent as to not get the required signatures. If they cannot even handle getting on a ballot, do we want them in the White House?