Earlier report on Kansas
Originally published by the Kansas City Channel
Kerry Claims Kansas Caucuses
33 Of State's 41 Delegates Were At Stake
POSTED: 4:24 pm CST March 13, 2004
UPDATED: 4:59 pm CST March 13, 2004
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Most Democrats in Kansas chose John Kerry to be their party's nominee for president during caucuses that took place after Kerry had locked up the Democratic nomination.
At stake Saturday were 33 of the state's 41 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, with caucuses scheduled at 50 sites across Kansas.
A pre-caucus count by The Associated Press showed Kerry having 2,162, enough to claim the nomination. With 68 percent of precincts reporting Saturday afternoon, Kerry captured 70 percent of the vote. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich had 11 percent, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean each had 8 percent, and retired Gen. Wesley Clark had 1 percent. [ed. note: these are preliminary results with only 68% reporting]
Technically at stake Saturday were 402 seats in regional caucuses to be held April 3. But the 33 national convention delegates were to be divided among candidates based on how many of those 402 seats each candidate captures.
Kerry became the Democrats' presumed nominee March 2, when the Massachusetts senator's victories in nine out of 10 primaries and caucuses led his last serious rival, Edwards, to withdraw from the race.
Edwards remained on the ballot in the Kansas caucuses, along with Dean and Clark, who stopped campaigning earlier. Clark, in fact, made a visit to Kansas on March 5 to campaign for Kerry.
Besides the 33 delegates at stake Saturday, Kansas has eight superdelegates to the Democratic convention, July 26-29 in Boston. Four endorsed Kerry before the caucuses: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who was not in the state Saturday for the caucuses; Teresa Krusor, the state party's vice chairwoman; Constance Wray, one of two Kansas representatives on the Democratic National Committee, and Chris Galloway, national president of the Young Democrats.
One superdelegate, DNC member Larry Tenopir, endorsed Dean last September.
Another superdelegate, state party Chairman Larry Gates, said this week he would endorse Kerry after the caucuses.
However, Kansas, with six electoral votes, is considered a safe Republican state for the general election.
Four years ago, President George W. Bush won 58 percent of the vote, to 37 percent for Democratic nominee Al Gore. The last Democrat to carry Kansas was Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and Republicans have prevailed in Kansas in 28 of the 35 presidential elections since it joined the Union in 1861.
Republicans plan an April 24 state committee meeting to pick the 39 Kansas delegates to the GOP National Convention, Aug. 29-Sept. 4 in New York City, all of whom have been pledged to Bush for months.
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