Newt Gingrich
Newt GingrichIsrael news photo: Newt Gingrich 2012 Official Site

GOP candidate New Gingrich has failed to gather enough signatures to run in the upcoming presidential primary in his adopted home state of Virginia.

The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gingrich is not the only one who fell short of finding the required 10,000 valid signatures, however. Texas Governor Rick Perry also faced a similar embarrassment, and likewise will fail to have his name on the ballot in his own home state on "Super Tuesday" when the top ten primaries are held March 6.

In fact, the only two GOP candidates who did manage to make the grade in their home states were former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, and U.S. Representative of Texas Ron Paul. Both have had previous experience in presidential races and know the ropes of running a national campaign.

However, eleven states are holding primaries before the March ballots take place, and last week a Quinnippiac University poll showed Gingrich ahead of Romney by a five-point lead among Republicans in Virginia.

Romney is still coming in a close second -- but at this point, he appears to be second to Gingrich, who is taking a firm, dramatic stand on the issues and appears unafraid to state his opinions unequivocally.

On Friday, Gingrich accused Ron Paul of abandoning Israel, accusing the congressman during a radio interview of indifference to the idea that Iran could wipe Israel off the map.

Earlier this month the former Speaker of the House earned the enmity of the Arab world after telling a Jewish cable television station tha the claim of Palestinian Authority Arabs as a separate "people" to become a "nation" was not legitimate from a historical perspective.

"Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire" until the early 20th century," Gingrich said in the interview, broadcast on The Jewish Channel. "I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs, and who were historically part of the Arab community," he said.