One thing I had noticed but forgot to mention after Super Tuesday was that now, enough states have voted that most American states are now adjacent to one that has held a primary. (If you are keeping track, the exceptions are Louisiana, New Jersey and Delaware). For Kansas, three adjacent states had voted: Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma. And all voted for Rick Santorum. This was, amongst other things, a good sign that Kansas would go for Santorum. In addition, it was a caucus state, which tends to favor the candidate with the more determined supporters. Also, next Tuesday had two important contests in Alabama and Mississippi that both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich considered to be more important. In short, the state was conceded to Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

Rick Santorum won the state with 51% of the vote, against 21% for Mitt Romney. The other two candidates didn't score enough votes to receive delegates.

Although the Kansas result was a strong one, it comes at a time when the news cycle from Super Tuesday is still active. One thing that has somewhat surprised me during this primary season is the differing emphasis on some races over others. For example, Michigan was a highly followed story, but due to its past voting record and penalty for holding an early binding primary, Michigan had fewer delegates than Kansas. And Romney's victory in Michigan gave him 16 delegates against Santorum's 14, as opposed to the likely 33-7 split in Santorum's favor in Kansas. There is, perhaps, such a thing as doing too well: since Kansas was considered an easy state for Santorum and his victory there didn't entail a dramatic (and expensive) contest, his result there has not generated the enthusiasm it might have.

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