Rick Santorum has won the Republican presidential caucuses in Kansas.
Santorum captured an overwhelming 51 percent–although that constituted only about 15,300 people– of the vote. Mitt Romney took second with 21 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich with 14 percent and Ron Paul with 12.5 percent. Those results mean Santorum stands to gain a substantial number of Kansas’ 40 delegates.
Santorum made clear he had to win Kansas in order to remain competitive in the race for his party’s presidential nomination.
“We have to do well here in Kansas,” Santorum said this week in Lenexa, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City, Mo. “No, we have to win here in Kansas, and win big.”
Romney and Gingrich largely skipped Kansas in favor of states voting next week. Gingrich canceled an all-day swing Friday in Kansas to campaign in Mississippi and Alabama, where voters head to the polls Tuesday. Romney also didn’t focus on the state, although he did win an endorsement from Bob Dole, the former Kansas senator and presidential candidate, in December.
But Romney has picked up 18 delegates elsewhere for himself on Saturday. In what might be a record for delegates per individual vote, Romney won nine delegates Saturday when 207 Republicans in Guam endorsed his presidential candidacy. And then he won another nine delegates by winning the Republican caucuses in the Northern Mariana Islands. The U.S. Virgin Islands is also holding its Republican presidential caucuses on Saturday, with nine delegates at stake.
Santorum and Paul were the most active campaigners in Kansas. Both drew Sam Brownback, the state’s governor, to rallies on Friday. Brownback, who had endorsed Rick Perry but is now neutral in the race, is one of many prominent social conservatives among the state’s Republican leaders.
Romney began the weekend in the lead with 339 delegates, compared to 107 for Gingrich, 95 for Santorum, and 22 for Ron Paul, according to the Republican National Committee. The RNC totals do not reflect any wins in states where delegates are not bound to the winning candidates.
In the 2008 Republican primary, Mike Huckabee carried Kansas with 60 percent of the vote. John McCain received 23.5 percent, Paul received 11 percent and Romney, who had already dropped out of the race, received 3 percent.
{Yahoo News/Matzav.com Newscenter}
How can it be that Newt has more delegates than Santorum when Rick has won much more states than Gingrich? The RNC is so hopelessly corrupt! It’s no wonder that that the Democrats will keep winning & winning! The Republicans are their own worst enemies! They can’t seem to get out of their own way! The Democrats always circle the wagons for one of their own. They concentrate on defeating the Republicans at all costs regardless of the consiquences & fall out! They win – period! The Republicans are always looking over their shoulders. Maybe I’m “offending” someone, I don’t want to hurt someones “feelings”, I don’t want the media to call me a racist, bigot, etc etc… A bunch of immature losers! Obama will win in a landslide!