Of course, lots of reasons are offered. Tea Party people blame voter fraud on Obama and unions. Though it is amazing unions had such power to take over the state GOP.
To qualify a candidate needed at least 400 signatures from each congressional district and 10K overall. Perhaps Newt let it slip until the last moment and then didn't have enough of an organization to get it done.
Or perhaps part of the GOP backed Voter ID law came around and bit them in the butt.
A new law required each signature be compared against voter rolls. If the address didn't match the signature wasn't counted. Don't expect the GOP (and much of the mainstream media) to say anything about this little problem.
Back in the 1990s Ron Paul produced a newsletter trumpeting his ideas. A lot of what was said in them is very homophobic, anti-semitic, and racist. Some of the worst are excerpted here (the list is long). Paul is trying to dismiss the mess but Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin isn't buying. There are a few scenarios and only one of them is in Paul's favor. And it isn't the one Paul is claiming.
Option 1, the one Paul is pushing: Hey, I was an absentee landlord. I didn't approve every last word in those newsletters.
Burroway responds: His name is in the banner, his signature is at the bottom. The newsletter was written to raise money for his campaign. The letters said some vile stuff, though is congressional constituents happened to agree with him. The letters said this stuff for over a decade to they didn't just happen to escape an editor's notice. Absentee landlord doesn't wash.
Option 2: Paul didn't agree with the vile statements but stuck with them because they were good for his campaign. Burroway says this is the kind of cynicism that Paul is running against this year.
Option 3: Paul really did believe that stuff then and doesn't now. He has matured. He would be a man of his word then and now (a campaign theme). Burroway responds: But that's not what he's saying.
The mess prompted a writer named Bluegal aka Fran of the blog Crooks and Liars to sum it up this way: "Can't manage a newsletter. Can't manage a country."
Rom Paul opposes the Supreme Court ruling that struck down laws that banned gay sex between consenting adults. His reason: such a thing should be up to states to decide. That has made Paul the darling of some Dominionists, those who believe Christ will return once we (they) have made the world (or at least America) pure enough to be acceptable to Christ. And one of those Dominionists beliefs is that gays should be executed by the government. That will certainly restore the remaining gays (at least until they cross the Canadian border). The description of their theology is quite scary and nothing like the Christianity I know. At least Paul has the sense to hide such an effusive endorsement.
Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin (yes, I refer to the site a lot -- they do good work debunking the anti-gay noise) of a bit of hypocrisy in the Michigan GOP (yeesh, only a little bit?).
The state party's statement of principles say:
I BELIEVE the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations, and that the best government is that which governs least.And yet, with the recent bills outlawing domestic partner benefits, they have violated both of those principles. The new law doesn't govern least -- it demands that the entire state follow the moral principles of a small population (perhaps only 25% want to get rid of DP benefits). The new law is not government closest to the people -- it overrides DP benefit laws of many cities and school districts.
I BELIEVE the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.
At least the law doesn't try to hide saying, "We simply don't like gay people."
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