Newt Gingrich not on Missouri GOP primary ballot, says it was intentional

• Gage Skidmore
• Newt Gingrich doesn’t want to be part of Missouri’s “beauty pageant.”

Newt Gingrich doesn’t think much of the Missouri GOP primary. So he’s kept his name off the ballot. Gingrich has been surging in Republican polls lately, so many pundits were befuddled when his name was left off the ballot. Don’t worry, Gingrich now says, he intentionally stayed off the Show-Me State ballot.

He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that forgoing the primary was a calculated decision. “There’s been much confusion about what we are doing in Missouri, which was not a mistake,” he told the paper.

“The Missouri primary doesn’t have any delegates attached to it,” Gingrich added. “And so this was a conscious decision; this was not an oversight.” He calls these primaries without delegates “beauty contests,” the Post-Dispatch says.

This is a bit of a tonal change for the campaign. A couple of weeks ago, Gingrich’s campaign also said the primary’s steep filing fee was a reason to stay out of the primary.