Gingrich drops Va. ballot challenge

Newt Gingrich has given up his challenge to be on Virginia's ballot, according to Bloomberg.

Gingrich, like many other GOP presidential candidates, failed to submit the high number of signatures required to get on the ballot in Virginia, which votes on Super Tuesday. Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul managed to qualify.

He and Rick Perry had both brought lawsuits arguing the 10,000 signature requirement was too high, but early court decisions had gone against them. Gingrich's campaign withdrew the challenge Monday.

Gingrich has lived in Virginia for years, and flew back to the state to try to push for enough signatures before the filing deadline in late December, but came up short.

His campaign initially said it would aggressively pursue a write-in campaign; however, the Virginia state code does not permit write-in candidates in a primary election, so Perry and Gingrich pursued the matter in court.

At the time, Gingrich’s campaign director compared the setback to Pearl Harbor.

“Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941,” campaign director Michael Krull wrote on the Gingrich Facebook page. “We have experienced an unexpected set-back, but we will re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive action. Throughout the next months there will be ups and downs; there will be successes and failures; there will be easy victories and difficult days — but in the end we will stand victorious.”

— This story was updated at 6:54 p.m.