Gingrich Is Atop The Polls in Virginia

From Quinnipiac:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich jumps into a slight 30 - 25 percent lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney among Virginia Republicans in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. No other candidate tops 9 percent.

Great news for Newt, right? Well, not really:

In a major blow to their presidential campaigns, both Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich will not be on the ballot for Virginia’s March 6 primary.

Both candidates failed to meet the state’s requirement of 10,000 signatures, according to the state party, and thus do not qualify.

“After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary,” the state GOP said via Twitter on Saturday. Perry’s rejection was announced late Friday.

Perry not making the ballot is no big surprise, given that he is an idiot. Gingrich, however, is supposedly the intellectual leader of the GOP. But given that recent history indicates the the Republican Party is made up almost entirely of morons, maybe this is Gingrich's ploy to appear more like a dumb-shit to the GOP base.

UPDATE: The stupidity continues:

After not making the ballot in Virginia, Newt Gingrich's spokesman said he would "work with the Republican Party of Virginia to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign to make sure that all the voters of Virginia are able to vote for the candidate of their choice."

But there's a problem, CNN notes: "Virginia state law specifically prohibits voters from writing in candidates not on the ballot in primary elections."

Merry Christmas, Newt.