It might have been a good thing that I took a few days to write about Super Tuesday, because shortly after writing about it, the results from the Kansas Republican caucus came in, with a surprising result.
With the Kansas vote all in, Ted Cruz won with 48% of the vote, against 23% for Donald Trump, 17% for Marco Rubio, and 11% for John Kasich. Ted Cruz just narrowly missed being the first candidate to pull an outright majority, but still managed to double the vote that Donald Trump got.
There are several possible reasons for that. One of the most obvious is that Kansas is a caucus state, which usually attracts a more dedicated and ideological electorate, as opposed to the voters in primaries, who might have lower information, and be mostly attracted to Trump's bombastic personality. It could also be a regional thing: as a Great Plains state, people from Kansas tend to be reserved and polite, traits that are not usually applied to Trump. Although it might be premature to guess, there is a chance that the Republican nomination could feature as much of a West vs. East contest as the North vs. South contest that usually marks American politics.
In any case, Cruz' victory in Kansas (together with another one on Maine on the same day) altered the race in much the same way that Santorum's victory in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota in 2012 redefined the race as being a still active thing. This is slightly amusing given that only around 25,000 people caucused in Kansas at all, but once again the adage "For want of a nail" shapes a primary season.
In any case, if you are out of popcorn, it is time to make some more!