Rick Perry: Let me on the Virginia ballot? Pretty please with a cherry on top? (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich continue their quest to get on the Virginia ballot, even though, realistically, both the Texas governor and the former Speaker of the House will have dropped out by the time of the March 6 primary, and Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. Over the weekend, both campaigns appealed U.S. district judge John Gibney's
Friday decision that they had waited too long to try to get Virginia ballot rules changed and would not appear on the ballot.
According to Perry's appeal:
Perry “filed this lawsuit on December 27, 2011, the same date the names of candidates qualified to appear on the ballot were scheduled to be certified and just two business days after Defendant Mullins made a preliminary determination and publicly announced Movant did not submit enough petition signatures to qualify to be placed on the ballot. Prior to this date, Movant reasonably expected to meet the requirements of Virginia’s ‘likely...unconstitutional’ election law, and Respondents could not have suffered any injury, as they could not have begun the process of finalizing their ballot orders,” the Texas governor’s lawyers wrote in their motion (posted here).
“Another illogical result of the District Court’s reasoning is that it would require [Perry] or any candidate for the Presidency, to pre-emptively apply for injunctive relief while there remains a possibility that they may collect the requisite number of signatures to appear on the primary ballot. This is absurd.
Whatever its merits as a legal argument to get Perry on the ballot, what a fantastic argument against him as president. Rick Perry: he'll try to follow a bad rule. Then, when he can't, he'll try to change it. There's leadership for you!