- Photo by Gage Skidmore
(MintPress)— With recent reports that Newt Gingrich’s campaign is under investigation for ballot fraud in Virginia, it may be time for Gingrich to reexamine his campaign organization, or lack thereof, as critics have pointed out.
It has been an election season of gaffes for Gingrich: Last November he missed the deadline to sign up for the Missouri primary election, his senior campaign staff resigned last summer and even Karl Rove took Gingrich’s campaign organization to task late last year. The disorganization has resulted in mixed polling numbers and a campaign that has fallen behind the competition.
The office of Virginia’s Attorney General and state’s Board of Elections is investigating the potential of 1,500 fraudulent voters obtained by Gingrich’s campaign signature collectors. Gingrich needed to collect 10,000 signatures to be eligible for the Virginia primary election and met the threshold. However, Gingrich acknowledged to supporters that some of the votes were not legitimate.
The Brad Blog, which confirmed the story with two Virginia state agencies, quoted Gingrich as saying on CNN video that, “We turned in 11,100 – we needed 10,000 – 1,500 of them were by one guy who, frankly, committed fraud.”
The move disqualified Gingrich from appearing on the Virginia ballot and will face an investigation.
.
History of disorganization
The incident in Virginia is not the only roadblock the Gingrich campaign has faced. While all of the Republican candidates qualified to be on the Missouri primary ballot, Gingrich failed to turn in his paperwork on time. The oversight gave hard-lined conservative Missouri voters one less option to vote for, which opened the door for Rick Santorum, who garnered 55.2 percent of the vote for an easy victory.
Gingrich’s campaign struggled with its preparedness right out of the gate in Iowa. Campaign manager Michael Krull wrote an e-mail to supporters prior to the Iowa caucuses expressing his concern over the outreach of the campaign.
“Voting starts in just 44 days, and frankly, if the Iowa caucuses were held today we would not have the political ‘ground game’ to fully capitalize on the momentum,” Krull wrote.
Karl Rove, the former deputy chief of staff for president George W. Bush, criticized Gingrich’s relaxed approach toward the opening Iowa caucus, writing in an editorial for Fox News that,
“Organization truly matters, especially in low-turnout caucuses … being organized in all 99 Iowa counties means more people can be dragged to caucus meetings who might otherwise stay home on a wintery eve, believing their vote doesn’t matter.”
However, before Gingrich could even look at a primary poll in Iowa, he had to deal with member of his campaign quitting last June.
Then-campaign strategist for Gingrich, Dave Carney, detailed in an e-mail his reasons for gravitating away from Gingrich. Carney and five aides all quit, some of which dealt with fundraising.
“The professional team came to the realization that the direction of the campaign they sought and Newt’s vision for the campaign were incompatible,” Carney wrote.
.
Reeling campaign
Earlier in the month, the Gingrich campaign struggled to keep things together for the February 4 primary in Nevada. The Washington Post reported Gingrich himself canceled an event with Nevada’s governor without telling his own campaign advisers why.
The story also details how Gingrich left voters hanging at a rally, showing up nearly two hours late to the event in Tampa, Florida, which prompted supporters to leave early. In Nevada, “Gingrich’s schedule called for a 1 p.m. rally in Reno, but volunteers put out word that the event would be at noon — and that supporters should show up at 11:30,” according to the story.
Both incidents didn’t translate well for Gingrich in the polls. Gingrich came in a distant second to Mitt Romney, garnering 31.9 percent of the vote while Romney collected 46.4 percent. In Nevada, Romney dominated the polls, collecting 50.1 percent of the votes to Gingrich’s 21.1 percent.
Gingrich’s only primary win of the season came in South Carolina, where his Georgia roots helped him solidify a win from the neighboring state. He also turned in arguabley one of the best debates of the season in South Carolina, garnering multiple standing ovations.
Following South Carolina however, the Gingrich campaign has been in a free-fall. Gingrich finished last in Minnesota, barely scraping up 10 percent of the vote; second-to-last in Colorado and failed to appear at all on the Missouri ballot.
Gingrich will not be able to rely on frequent debates like he was earlier in the primary campaign, as only a few remain. As Rove pointed out, organization matters in order to run a successful campaign.
Gingrich is currently in third place with 32 delegates, trailing Rick Santorum who has 72, and Romney with 112.
Source: MintPress
.