Morning Examiner: World War Newt

Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941,” Campaign Director Michael Krull wrote on Gingrich’s official Facebook page Saturday, describing the Virginia’s Republican Party’s announcement that the Gingrich campaign had failed to submit enough signatures to qualify for the party’s March primary ballot. And Team Newt quickly followed up on his promise to fight back. A third party group, Citizens for the Republic, has hired former Virginia Democratic party chairman Paul Goldman to challenge Newt’s exclusion from the ballot in court.

Goldman has not identified how he will challenge the Virginia GOP (a press release only said “we intend to formally challenge such certification for specific reasons to be detailed at the appropriate time”), but many anticipate a suit would center on the Virginia Republican party’s decision actually to count the number of signatures each campaign submitted to get on the ballot.

Under Virginia law, each party is responsible for verifying the authenticity of signatures submitted to get a name on the ballot. Apparently, the Virginia Republican party has a history of not checking the signatures very carefully. But this October, after he was denied a position on the ballot Republican state senate candidate Michael Osborne ran as an independent. Independents have their signatures verified by the State Board of Elections, not the party. Osborne lost, but he did sue local Republican party chairman Brandon Boyles, claiming it was unfair that independents had to have their signatures verified by the state while Republicans only had to get approval from the Republican Party. The Virginia GOP has since changed its policy and actively checks signatures submitted.

John Fund predicted Sunday that this issue will go to court. The hiring of Goldman virtually guarantees it will.

Around the Bigs

The Wall Street Journal, New studies show the quality of federal regulation is plummeting: Forthcoming George Mason University Mercatus Center studies of every rule issued to implement Obamacare to date found that “the federal government used a fast-track process of regulatory analysis that failed to comply with its own standards, and produced poorly substantiated claims about the ACA’s benefits and costs.”

The Washington Post, Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents: According to an analysis of financial disclosures by The Washington Post, the financial gap between the financial gap between Americans and their representatives in Congress has widened considerably since 1984.

The New York Times, Economic Downturn Took a Detour at Capitol Hill: According to an analysis by The New York Times based on data from the Center for Responsive Politics, while most of the country has become much poorer in the last six years, members of Congress have gotten much richer.

The New York Post, Obama’s still pocketing MF money: President Obama may have returned some of money that MF Global CEO Jon Corzine donated to his campaign, but The Post reports the president’s re-election organizations are still hanging onto nearly $150,000 connected to the firm.

Campaign 2012

Paul: The Washington Examiner‘ Byron York notes that while Ron Paul is leading some Iowa polls, and is second in New Hampshire, “it’s important to remember that a large part of his support isn’t coming from Republicans.”

Romney: With three different candidates leading in each of the first three states, a Mitt Romney aide in New Hampshire tells The Washington Examiner‘s Brian Hughes that they are ready for a long fight: “This is going to be a long contest. The rules pretty much guarantee that. We’ve planned accordingly.” You can watch Romney’s newest Iowa television ad, here.

Gingrich: The Wall Street Journal has found a newsletter from Newt Gingrich’s Center for Health Transformation that says Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health care plan “has tremendous potential to effect major change in the American health system.” The Gingrich campaign has released a “Fact Sheet” attacking Romney that is entitled “Mitt the Massachusetts Moderate.” And CNN has found papers from Gingrich’s first divorce showing that, contrary to what Newt claims, his first wife did not want the divorce.

Iowa: In The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Examiner‘s Michael Barone notes that Iowa has a poor history of picking the Republican party’s eventual nominee.

Righty Playbook

The Heritage Foundation‘s Mike Brownfield highlights key passages from The Washington Post’s story on how Obama’s Solyndra investment was “infused with politics at every level.”

National Review editor Rich Lowry explains on The Corner what would have to happen before Louisiana Gov. Bibby Jindal got into the race.

The Enterprise Blog‘s James Pethokoukis explains Mitt Romney’s refusal to rule out a value-added tax.

Lefty Playbook

The New York Times‘ Thomas Edsall outlines Mitt Romney’s “Anti-Entitlement Strategy.”

Vice President Joe Biden’s former economist Jared Bernstein claims, “You will really learn nothing accurate or even true about the nation’s system of so-called entitlement programs from listening to Mitt Romney, for example.”

Talking Points Memo says that GOP delegate selection rules contain enough loopholes that the system is still pretty much winner-take-all by state.

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