No Gingrich, No Perry In Virginia
GORANI: It looks like Newt Gingrich won't be on the primary ballot in his home state of Virginia. Both Gingrich and Rick Perry failed to collect the 10,000 signatures needed to qualify. CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser joins us live from Des Moines, Iowa this morning. Now Paul, Virginia is an important super Tuesday state. It's where Newt Gingrich actually lives, ok, so what is the impact going to be on his campaign?</s>PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, let's say it's a two-person or three-person contest by early March on super Tuesday. Every delegate matters, of course, if it's a close contest. So yes, it could hurt since Gingrich will not be on the ballot in Virginia. Who is on the ballot? Ron Paul, the Congressman from Texas and Mitt Romney the former Massachusetts governor. They're the only two candidates who were able to get on. Virginia, Hala, has a high threshold. You need 10,000 signatures. Gingrich was in Virginia last week. He had two events on Wednesday night and again on Thursday. Thursday was the deadline to get on the ballot there. He came close. Didn't make it. Neither did Texas Governor Rick Perry or any of the other candidates other than Paul and Romney. Gingrich this morning asked about it outside his house this morning in Virginia. Listen, we made a mistake. Not going to happen in Virginia. Hala, it's kind of a sign that Newt Gingrich over the last month has jumped, has soared in the polls here in Iowa and nationally. But his campaign structure hasn't followed suit and matched. Ok. Let's talk about -- ok. So we've discussed over the last several hours, Paul, that it's a statistical dead heat in Iowa. Looking ahead to the New Hampshire primary which is still 15 days away, there's a new poll out there. What does it tell us?</s>STEINHAUSER: it shows the same old story. We've seen it for two years now. Take a look at this. Boston Globe came out on Christmas morning. Look at Mitt Romney right at the top there. Way ahead of everybody else at 39 percent. Romney has been the front-runner for a long time in New Hampshire. Why? Remember, he was governor of neighboring Massachusetts. He owns a home in New Hampshire. He spent a lot of time campaigning and helping other Republicans in New Hampshire. He's very, very well known there. And if Romney doesn't do well here in Iowa, a lot of people say New Hampshire needs to be his fire wall. There's Gingrich and Ron Paul both at 17 percent. Look at John Huntsman at 11 percent; remember Huntsman has placed all of his chips, I guess, you could say in New Hampshire. Take that poll and maybe throw it away because whatever happens right here in Iowa on January 3rd could greatly impact what happens in New Hampshire seven days later. We're here in Iowa. We have the election express bus. The whole team will be here. And within a couple of days, we're ready for this caucus -- Hala.</s>GORANI: When the bus is in town CNN means business, right? Ok. Paul Steinhauser.</s>STEINHAUSER: Yes. You've got it.</s>GORANI: Among our team of reporters covering the first important test in Iowa and we'll have our next political update in an hour. A reminder for all the latest political news. You can always go to the Web site at any time, politics.com. That's going to do it for me. Drew Griffin picks it up from the CNN center. Hi - Drew.</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN HOST: Hi Hala, thanks a lot.