We knew it might happen but I don’t think anyone thought it would happen.

If you guys need me, I’ll be in a dark room drinking myself into unconsciousness.

An announcement from the party on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s petitions is expected Friday evening.

The state GOP verified Friday that Romney and Paul turned in petitions with enough valid signatures, including 400 from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts, to get their names on the March 6 primary ballot.

Perry submitted 11,911 signatures to Virginia election officials Thursday, which means 2,000 or more signatures were deemed invalid. Gingrich had about 800 fewer signatures than Perry so there’s no guarantee he would meet the 10,000-name threshold…

Virginia’s 49 delegates, handed out proportionally based on election results, make up more than 10 percent of the 475 delegates up for grabs on Super Tuesday.

So even if Perry shocks the world in Iowa and South Carolina, he’s now ineligible for 10+ percent of the Super Tuesday delegates right out of the box. And that’s not even the worst part: Moe Lane of Red State pointed out on Twitter that Gingrich is actually leading in Virginia right now with 30 percent of the vote compared to just six percent for Perry. If he’s struck from the ballot too, which suddenly seems highly likely, the Virginia primary ballot will consist entirely and exclusively of … Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. That’s your choice. Pass the Everclear.

This guy had $15 million in cash on hand three months ago. No one thought to set some of that aside to hire people for canvassing in Virginia? Exit question: Is this a disqualifying mistake on Perry’s part? If you can’t trust him to do his ballot homework, why trust him to run a tight ship in the general election against Obama?