Rhode Island requires 1,000 signatures for candidates to gain a place on a presidential primary ballot. The deadline for submitting these signatures was December 26. However, Rhode Island didn’t finish checking the signtures until January 10.

The checking process revealed that both Joe Biden and Bill Richardson failed to submit 1,000 valid signatures. It is true that Biden withdrew on January 3, and that Richardson withdrew on January 10. However, they hadn’t withdrawn during the petitioning period (in December 2007). Therefore, these Biden/Richardson instances are additional evidence that even modest petition requirements are sometimes difficult for campaigns with significant resources.

Most states don’t require “important” major party presidential candidates to submit any signatures to get on presidential primary ballots. Among the states that do, every such state had at least one instance of an “important” presidential candidate failing to get enough valid signatures. Candidates who failed in at least one petition drive include not only Biden and Richardson, but Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich, Fred Thompson, and Duncan Hunter.

Candidates who did qualify for the Rhode Island Democratic primary are Clinton, Edwards, Kucinich and Obama. Candidates who qualified for the Republican primary are Hugh Cort, Giuliani, Huckabee, Hunter, Keyes, McCain, Paul, Romney and Thompson.