ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) ? Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich made a last-minute dash 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, was 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.
Gingrich and his wife Callista attended the event at a hotel just across the Potomac River from Washington, 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 already campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire.
The former House of Representatives speaker has acknowledged that his campaign is behind and hustling to translate recent increased support for his candidacy 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. About 250 people attended the event in Virginia, where Gingrich said his campaign is "going to turn in vastly more signatures than you need."
By contrast, his main Republican 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 earlier 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, an informal adviser to Romney's 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 deliver those 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.
Gingrich said he has enough signatures to meet the requirement. He will hold another event on Thursday in Richmond, Virginia and will hand-deliver the signatures, he said.
Todd Elliott, a Gingrich supporter from Columbus, Ohio, attended the event in Virginia and said he is worried that Gingrich has to spend time in Virginia playing catch-up to Romney on organizational matters.
"There's obviously some concern there," Elliott said. "He should be in Iowa."
Gingrich's campaign all but collapsed last summer when much of his staff quit over questions about management.
If the race goes to many states, as Romney's campaign is anticipating, winning states like Virginia, which holds 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 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 will Obama, a Democrat, in the November 2012 election.
(Reporting By Sam Youngman; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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