Virginia ballot shows Gingrich organization woes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is rushing to get on the ballot for the Republican primary in Virginia, in another sign his campaign may not be ready for prime time and could struggle to beat President Barack Obama next year.

Gingrich, who is polling as a frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination both nationally and in early voting states, has been forced to hold a rally of supporters in Virginia on Wednesday night as he hurries to get the 10,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot there.

The event at a hotel just across the Potomac River from Washington takes place far from Iowa, where voters are less than two weeks away from kicking off the 2012 election season on January 3. Most of his party rivals are campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire.

The former House of Representatives speaker has acknowledged that his campaign is behind and hustling to translate increased

support for his candidacy in recent weeks to organizational capabilities.

Gingrich failed to qualify for the ballot in Missouri and barely made the deadline in Ohio, a key swing state in the general election.

By contrast, main party rival Mitt Romney has a bigger and slicker campaign organization. The former Massachusetts governor's staff has already handed in 16,000 signatures to get on the Virginia ballot.

Gingrich said in New Hampshire on Wednesday that his last-minute scramble should not lead Republicans to believe that Romney is a more viable candidate than he is.

"It shows you that a guy who runs for six years and has millions of dollars has a different operational style than the guy who arouses thousands of people," Gingrich said.

Kevin Madden, a former spokesman for Republican front-runner Mitt Romney and an informal adviser to the Romney campaign, scoffed at Gingrich's troubles in Virginia, where the former speaker lives in a wealthy suburb of Washington.

"The effort to defeat President Obama in 2012 is of utmost importance to Republican voters," Madden said. "If, like Newt Gingrich, you're just going to casually wing it in a primary campaign, it's an indication you plan to just wing it in a general election campaign.

"We need a nominee who will be organized and disciplined, not scrambling around for ballot access at the last minute."

In Virginia, a candidate has to present at least 10,000 signatures of registered voters, with 400 coming from each of the state's 11 congressional districts.

Gingrich has until 5 p.m. on Thursday to get those delivered to the state board of elections in sealed boxes. A spokesman for the board said it recommends that candidates present at least 15,000 signatures - 700 from each district - to ensure legitimacy.

He said he has enough signatures to meet the requirement. He will hold another event on Thursday in Richmond, Virginia, then he will hand-deliver the signatures, Gingrich said.

Gingrich's campaign all but ended last summer when much of his staff quit over questions of campaign management.

If the race goes to many states, as Romney's campaign is anticipating, winning states like Virginia, which as its primary on March 6, could determine the Republican nominee.

Lara Brown, a political science professor at Villanova University and author of the book "Jockeying for the American Presidency," said that Gingrich's late-to-the-party style is "not a reassuring sign for those looking for clues into how he'd act as president."

"Although there is much more to governing than campaigning, candidates must show voters that they are competent enough to run a nationwide presidential campaign if they have any hope of sitting in the Oval Office," Brown said.

Gingrich is an unlikely front-runner as a longtime Washington insider with a history of bombastic, controversial statements, marital infidelity and private sector work that could be confused with lobbying activity.

The eventual Republican nominee faces Obama, a Democrat, in the November 2012 election.

(Reporting By Sam Youngman; Editing by Eric Walsh)