The South Carolina roadblock

A handy reminder that the winnowing of the GOP presidential field may soon accelerate: the $40,000 campaigns must pay, by month’s end, to gain ballot status in South Carolina…

When Mr. Perry dropped from the race earlier this month, his team cited, among other things, the expense of competing in South Carolina, where $20,000 must be paid to the State Election Commission and another $20,000 to the state GOP just to get on the ballot.

No political pro claims to have the exact order of the next withdrawals, although names like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee come up.

And this one, too:

Arkansas charges $25,000 for a campaign to gain access to its primary ballot and is the only other state with a large fee.

A campaign could probably challenge these hefty fees, and might even win. Recall that Virginia’s petition requirements for 2012, which resulted in only two candidate making the GOP ballot, were challenged, unsuccessfully, in part because the lawsuits were filed too late. The General Assembly has since halved the requirements (and the deadline is December 10th…tick, tock).

But unless and until such a challenge emerges, keep an eye on who writes these checks. And yes, both Rick Perry and Scott Walker forked over the cash. And have now gone home. But some of the stragglers have paid up…Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham…