Goode Is On Ballot
Published 5:02 pm Tuesday, September 25, 2012
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The Farmville Herald
FARMVILLE – Virgil is good to go.
Or stay, actually.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced at high noon on Friday that Constitution Party candidate Virgil H. Goode's name will remain on the Virginia ballot.
“We call them like we see them,” Cuccinelli said in a statement to the press.
The Republican Party of Virginia had contested the validity of Goode's petition signatures, alleging fraud, even after the State Board of Elections decided on September 4 his campaign had collected the required number of petition signatures from Virginia's congressional districts.
The GOP formally requested the Attorney General's office to investigate and Cuccinelli has concluded that “while there may have been certain irregularities, nothing he examined would prevent Goode from being certified for the Virginia ballot in the upcoming November presidential election,” according to a press release issued by Attorney General's office.
It is not uncommon to find some irregularities in candidate petitions that contain thousands of signatures, Cuccinelli's office noted. But regardless of any such irregularities “the candidate has enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Therefore, the attorney general has concluded that the State Board of Elections was correct in certifying Goode for inclusion in the Virginia presidential ballot,” the office noted.
The State Board of Elections had also previously requested, on August 6, that the attorney general investigate “certain other alleged petition irregularities related to Goode's candidacy,” the press released noted.
The former Fifth District congressman has now cleared all of the ballot hurdles set before him.
Political analysts believe Goode's candidacy may have national implications because of his appeal to conservative voters in central Virginia communities that comprise his old congressional, and, before that, General Assembly, stomping grounds.
They argue he could draw enough votes away from Republican Mitt Romney to tilt a close race in Virginia to President Obama, which could lean a tight national contest in favor of the president.
During a campaign swing in Farmville in late July, Goode denied his campaign could result in the reelection of President Obama, telling The Herald, “”We hope and expect and know we'll take votes from both Obama and Romney. There are a lot, particularly in Southside Virginia, of old line Democrats who won't vote for a Republican under any circumstance. We expect to get some of them.”
Goode said Americans are speaking to him about their dissatisfaction with both Obama and Romney.
“The public, this might be the year they wake up,” he said of his long-shot odds. “You don't have the opportunity but once every four years. If you don't wake up in a presidential election you're never going to wake up.
“They may wake up,” he said of voters, “and roll over on November 5 and say, 'You know what? I'm tired of the multi-millionaires, billionaires running this country. I'm going to go out there and vote for somebody different tomorrow.'”
Goode's name will appear third on the Virginia ballot, beneath Romney and Obama, but ahead of the Libertarian and Green Party candidates.
He has readily admitted his dark horse status but from the moment of his announced bid for the Constitution Party nomination last winter Goode has spoken with optimism.
In February he told The Herald, “There is more dissatisfaction with Democrats and Republicans than I have seen in a long time. I think a lot of people will look at us as time goes on.”
