Santorum wins Kansas GOP caucuses, gains blunted by Romney's island victories

FOX ^ | 3/10/12

[Mr. K]

Rick Santorum swept to victory in the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses Saturday, marking his strongest caucus finish yet but still struggling to make a dent in Mitt Romney's delegate lead.

Kansas offers a total haul of 40 delegates, and Santorum is expected to take at least 30 of them. If Santorum can keep Romney from crossing a certain threshold, he could conceivably take them all.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Santorum was well ahead with 51 percent. Romney trailed with 21 percent, followed by Gingrich with 14 percent. Ron Paul was in last place with 13 percent.

However, Santorum still trails Romney by more than 200 delegates. Romney frustrated the Santorum campaign's gains on Saturday with a series of smaller victories in far-flung locales like Guam. Romney picked up at least 23 delegates over the weekend.

The candidates head next into Mississippi and Alabama for primaries on Tuesday, as well as caucuses in Hawaii.

[Lazlo in PA]

Can you cite me an example of were unbound delegates awarded to a candidate didn’t support their guy at the convention?

[Toespi]

Hey CharlesWayne, that was a pretty nasty statement you said Gingrich made. I nicely asked for a source, do you have a source or did you make it up? We don’t have much of a choice when it comes to the MSM reporting garbage, but I don’t see any reason why it should happen here.

” As Gingrich says, anybody can win in backwards middle-america states that nobody gives a damn about.”

[parksstp]

Too bad the KS GOP didn’t do a MI GOP and give Rick the remaining delegates:

Allocation
Santorum: Won all 4 CD’s (3*4) and got 51% of the vote (.51*25) plus the 3 bound Superdelegates for a total of 28 delegates.

Romney got 21% of the vote (.21*25) for 6 delegates.

There’s 6 delegates left over. I believe they should all go to Rick, but I know they won’t. Looks like they just did it again based on the vote (.51*6) = 4 and (.21*6) = 2 to give

Rick 32 Delegates and Romney 8.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I'm sorry, I don't usually put sarcasm tags on sarcasm, because it would defeat the purpose.

I was playing on and exagerating the excuse Gingrich made for why Santorum was able to string together a set of 1st and 2nd-place finishes in February while Gingrich pulled 4th in most contests:

Gingrich: I'm Taking Santoruim's Advice:

“I’m taking Rick Santorum’s advice,” Mr. Gingrich said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He stayed in, he was running fourth in every single primary, suddenly he very cleverly went to three states nobody else went to, and he became the media darling and bounced back.”

So, the question is, why did Gingrich think "nobody else went to" Colorado and Minnesota? And why did Gingrich skip Michigan, and Kansas, and so many other states?

But seriously, I was just helping the Gingrich folks by posting the objections they usually make when Santorum beats Gingrich in a contest (which has happened in all but a handful so far).

BTW, the quote from Gingrich is also factually incorrect, as Santorum had not actually had a string of 4th-place finishes. His finishes were 1st, 4th, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, prior to his 3 wins.

Back to your original question -- as a rule, if I am actually quoting someone, I will actually provide quotes and a link.

[raccoonnookkeeper]

Yes, having the younger Santorum as the veep seems to make more sense for building a small dynasty. Gingrich would be quite elderly after 8 years. However if the “people” are happier with Santorum as the GOP presidential candidate, that is what makes sense for winning an election.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Oh, come on, throw me a bone here, I’m trying my best to come up with a good excuse....

[xzins]

Yes it does

[darrellmaurina]

Great news.

[Brown Deer]

Gingrich Senior Advisor Randy Evans Explains Delegate Math

[dforest]

The problem with the “good little Christian family man” is the word “good”. A serial adulterer who talks real good is far better, dontcha know.

[GeronL]

I thought if you won a majority of the vote you get all the delegates?

[GeronL]

lol.

I certainly hope Newt doesn’t really think that way, although some of his fervent supporters here seem to

[livius]

Sweaterites, the others left because they didn’t care. This is a non-binding thing and most people don’t even vote in it. The actual delegate selection is a later event.

[Waryone]

If you go to Tennessee, don’t make the mistake of calling any one of them a Yankee. But then you “Virginny” types would not know that. LOL!

[deport]

Saturday 10 March 2012: All 40 of Kansas' delegates to the Republican National Convention are allocated to presidential contenders based on the results of the voting in today's Precinct Caucuses. Caucuses begin at 10:00 AM CST. [Section II. 1.] Each voter casts 1 ballot for the candidate of his or her choice. [Section IV. 2. B.]

• Each of the state's 4 congressional districts is assigned 3 National Convention delegates. The candidate receiving the most votes in each congressional district receives all 3 of the district's delegates. In the event of a tie between two candidates, each candidate receives 1 delegate and the 3rd delegate position becomes uncommitted. [Section VI. 1.]
• 25 delegates (10 base at-large delegates and 15 bonus delegates) to the Republican National Convention are proportionally allocated to presidential contenders based on the statewide vote. A 20% threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be allocated National Convention delegates. However, if only one candidate or no candidate receives the 20%, there is no threshold.
  • [the percentage of votes received] = [votes cast for each candidate] ÷ [total votes cast for all candidates meeting the threshold].
  • Beginning with the candidate who received the most votes, multiply [the percentage of votes received] by [25 National Convention Delegates] and round any remainder up to the next whole number. Repeat for the next highest vote getter until all 25 delegates are allocated. [Section VI. 2. A.]
• The 3 party leaders delegates (Todd Tiahrt, the National Committeeman, Helen van Etten, the National Committeewoman, and Amanda Adkins, Chair of the Kansas Republican Party) will attend the convention bound to the candidate who receives the most votes statewide. [Section VI. 3.]

National Convention Delegates are bound unless released by the candidate. [Section VI. 1.]

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[deport]

This is a non-binding thing and most people don’t even vote in it. The actual delegate selection is a later event.

---

Check the following link for a little knowlegde on the Kansas Caucuses.

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/KS-R#0310

[mojitojoe]

As Gingrich says, anybody can win in backwards middle-america states that nobody gives a damn about.
_____________________________________________
Gingrich didn’t say that. I dare you to provide a link showing he said that.

[Kazan]

He projects an image of being a good little Christian family man, which makes them feel good inside and that’s enough.

Oh, so the character of the candidates doesn't matter to you

Santorum is a good family and it is absurd to attack him or conservatives for finding that to be an admirable quality.

Your comments sound a lot like the one Obama made about conservative voters clinging to their Bibles and guns. It's absurd these sort of comments are being made here.

[freedomfiter2]

It seems that there is a few anti-christians among the freeper ranks. Their motto is anybody who is immoral.

[Joe 6-pack]

While I think CW’s sarcasm was obvious to anybody that’s not wrapped too tight, I think it’s fair to say that he captured the tone of Newt’s dismissing the MO primary as a “Beauty contest” when asked why he didn’t participate there.