Kucinich comes in second in Kansas caucuses
Originally published in the Topeka Capital-Journal
Published Saturday, March 13, 2004
Kerry wins Kansas caucuses, nomination
By JOHN HANNA
The Associated Press
John Kerry claimed an easy victory today in Democratic caucuses across Kansas as expected, having already locked up his party's nomination.
Thirty-three of the state's 41 delegates to the Democratic National Convention were at stake in caucuses at 50 sites.
A pre-caucus count by The Associated Press showed Kerry already having 2,162 delegates, enough to claim the nomination.
"I wish we could have done this three weeks ago," said state Rep. Nancy Kirk, of Topeka, who was among 35 people attending a caucus held in a shelter house at Gage Park. "We would have had more people."
Kansas Democrats technically were filling 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 captured.
With all 50 caucus sites reporting this afternoon, Kerry had captured 72 percent of the regional caucus seats, with North Carolina Sen. John Edwards capturing 9 percent.
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich captured 10 percent [ed. note: this is a crock: they list Edwards before Kucinich even though Kucinich did better, making it look like Kucinich came in third instead of second. Can we at least try not to be blatantly biased here?], former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, 7 percent, and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, 1 percent.
Caucuses were fairly low-key. People who attended were asked to form groups, based on which candidates they supported. Then, seats at the regional caucuses were divided among the candidates who received at least 15 percent of the vote among those present.
For example, at the Topeka park, 35 Democrats participated and had 10 minutes to choose a group. Sixteen voted for Kerry, eight for Edwards, seven for Kucinich and four for Dean. Dean didn't receive enough to qualify for seats at regional caucuses, and those seats were divided 6-3-3 among Kerry, Edwards and Kucinich.
Kathy Jensen, a high school science teacher from Topeka, said she has been following presidential primaries and caucuses closely because she's unhappy with President Bush, particularly over the war in Iraq.
"I'm old enough to have lived through Vietnam, and it feels like Vietnam," said the 58-year-old Jensen.
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. He said Saturday he still supported Dean.
Another superdelegate, state party Chairman Larry Gates, said this past 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 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.
"I'm convinced President Bush will carry Kansas very well," GOP Chairman Dennis Jones said Saturday.
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 those delegates have been pledged to Bush for months.
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