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Kansas Republicans reinstate caucus
GOP will ballot to unite party after Super Tuesday hype
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
fchambers@kanan.com
Kansans have not had a say in which presidential candidate the Republican Party endorses for two decades. But on Saturday, Kansas Republicans will caucus for the first time since 1988.
Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said in the past, elected officials decided which candidate the Kansas Republican Party would pledge its delegates to. Morgan said Kansas has not historically been a caucus state, but that the Kansas Republican Party is making proactive measures to increase Republican activity throughout the state.
"I can't tell you why Iowa and New Hampshire have been, but I can tell you why Kansas hasn't been," Morgan said. "There has always been talk about how Kansas Republicans are not united and they are always fighting, but this is a common goal Republicans have and it is just focused on making Kansas relevant when picking the next president of the United States."
Mark Joslyn, associate professor of political science, said he expects a large turnout on Saturday. He said turnout at Republican primaries and caucuses across the nation have increased because it is a competitive race and there is no incumbent.
Joslin predicted that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would sweep this evenings' caucuses. He said if that did happen, Kansas would not receive any national attention. If the vote is fairly even, Joslyn said Kansas' caucus could be influential.
"It's hard for me to see national attention
like Nevada or South Carolina got, but they'll get more attention then they would usually get," loslyn said.
Morgan said the Kansas Republican Party decided to hold a caucus this year to build and unite the party. He said the party decided to hold the caucus after Super Tuesday in a conscious effort to put Kansas' caucus in the national spotlight. Only two other states, Washington and Louisiana, will hold their Republican caucuses on Saturday.
Morgan acknowledged the possibility that McCain could win a majority of the delegates up for grabs in tonight's caucuses. But Morgan said even if that did occur, it would be statistically impossible for McCain to have already won enough delegates to win the Republican nomination.
"From what it looks like, Sen. McCain, Gov. Huckabee and Gov. Romney will be making their way through Super Tuesday
Joslyn said if the race was still close after this evening, the likelihood of the candidates visiting the Kansas City area would increase. He also said he expected Kansas Republicans to support McCain because he is the front-runner.
neck and neck," Morgan said. "We will probably continue to see that kind of activity going into our caucus and the spotlight is going to be on us for about four days."
The Democratic caucus that was supposed to be held at Liberty Hall this evening has been moved to the Douglas County Fairgrounds' Community Building, 1930 Harper St. Jennifer Davidson, communications director for the Kansas Democratic Party, said the caucus was moved because the party thought Liberty Hall would not have been large enough. Voters who live west of Iowa Street and south of Sixth Street will caucus at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. Voters who live east of Iowa Street and south of Sixth Street will caucus at Abe and Jake's Landing, 8 E. Sixth St. Voters who live north of Sixth Street will caucus at the National Guard's Metcalf Memorial Armory, 200 Iowa St. Voters are encouraged to arrive at the caucuses by 6 p.m. The caucuses will begin at 7 p.m.
Caucus relocated
Jesse Vaughn, president of KU College Republicans, said his organization would attend the caucus as a group, but that the
He said the group has been involved in local campaigns, but it did not usually get involved in national campaigns until the fall semester during an election year.
organization had not yet planned any other events.
He said once the Republican candidate is announced, the group would become much more active.
— Edited by Katherine Loeck
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