Texas Governor Rick Perry failed in his bid to stop Virginia election officials from printing or distributing primary ballots without his name on them.

A federal judge in Richmond said today that he wouldn’t stop the printing before the next hearing in the case, scheduled for Jan. 13. He didn’t rule on the merits of Perry’s challenge…

“This is probably a case that should have been filed beforehand, not when things went sour,” U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney Jr. said at a hearing in Richmond. He said that regardless of the merits of Perry’s claims, his campaign failed to gather the 10,000 signatures required by state rules.

“How can I put Mr. Perry on the ballot in light of the requirement?” Gibney asked Joseph M. Nixon, an attorney representing the Texas governor.