A lawyer and a Tea Party activist filed a lawsuit on Thursday to get Newt Gingrich on the Virginia ballot for the Super Tuesday primary; Gingrich will most likely have to win the state to get the Republican nomination. The lawsuit, which is not affiliated with the Gingrich campaign, contends that Gingrich filed the required 10,000 signatures, but that many of them were improperly excluded—and also takes issue with how the Republican Party of Virginia determined the signatures were invalid. Gingrich has claimed he submitted 11,100 signatures, but “fraud” by a campaign worker caused a large number of the signatures to be declared invalid. Despite the fraud allegation, a Gingrich spokesman said the campaign has decided not to pursue a lawsuit. Rick Perry, who was also denied a spot on the Virginia ballot, is challenging his exclusion in court.
