Virgil Goode

Former state senator and Congressman Virgil Goode is continuing his push for ballot access in Virginia and elsewhere as the Constitution Party‘s nominee for president.

He said today he’s already filed 14,375 signatures in Virginia and intends to collect a few thousand more before the Aug. 24 deadline to get on the fall ballot. The state requires signatures of at least 10,000 qualified voters,
including at least 400 from each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts.

Goode’s said he’s already won ballot access in 17 states, and he’s currently working to gain access in a variety of others including Alabama, Minnesota, New Jersey and North Carolina.

He’s working to meet a few state deadlines this month. Many more states have deadlines in August and September, he said.

Related, Public Policy Polling — a Democratic-affiliated group that conducts its polls through automated telephone interviews (a.k.a. robodialing) and not live interviews — reported earlier this month that Goode is polling at 9 percent in Virginia, with most of his support coming from Republicans and conservative independents.

That fits into Dwayne Yancey’s theory from a year ago that Goode could potentially tilt the campaign, probably toward incumbent President Barack Obama. On the other hand, polling for third-party candidates tends to start out higher and shrink as the election draws near.

If you want to catch up with Goode, he’ll be visiting the Orange County Fair later this week and then the Louisa County Ag Fair in early August.

– Mason Adams