Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, pictured Saturday in Washington, won 59.8 percent in the Kansas GOP caucus.

Rick Davis, center, checks in Julie Reece on Saturday during the Republican caucus at South Junior High School. In Lawrence, 870 Republicans participated in the caucus.

Residents line up to caucus Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008 during the Republican caucus at South Junior High School.

Defying U.S. Sen. John McCain’s lead in the Republican presidential race, Kansas GOP caucusgoers on Saturday flocked to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who easily won statewide and in Lawrence.

“I think it reflects the fact that people still want a voice and still want a choice,” said Zach Stoltenberg, a Huckabee supporter and Kansas University architecture graduate student. “It doesn’t matter what CNN or Fox News or anybody says. This race isn’t over.”

Huckabee garnered 59.8 percent of Kansas support, trouncing McCain, who received 23.6 percent of the 19,432 votes.

At the Lawrence site, Huckabee won 43.9 percent of the total votes, compared with McCain’s 28.4 percent and Paul’s 20 percent.

The results were seen by some as a signal to McCain that many conservatives were not yet on board.

“The size of the defeat (for McCain) in Kansas is a bit of a message, and that’s the message that ‘No, you haven’t won us over yet,'” said Bob Beatty, a Washburn University associate political science professor.

Republicans whose main issues are illegal immigration and abortion are still not warming up to McCain, according to Kansas Republican Party Chairman Kris Kobach.

“It sends a signal at an important time to John McCain that he’s got to work hard to bring those voters into line behind him,” Kobach said.

Huckabee won 36 Kansas delegates toward the GOP nomination, although he still trails McCain nationwide, who has won more than 700 of the 1,191 delegates needed to win the nomination. Texas Congressman Ron Paul won 11 percent support in Kansas.

Caucus procedures mixed

Across the state Saturday at 66 caucus sites, party leaders said the turnout mostly met expectations in a race with a clear national front-runner. But it also trailed the 37,000 Democrats who participated in the party’s open caucus Tuesday that gave Illinois Sen. Barack Obama a victory in a much tighter nationwide nominating race versus New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

In Lawrence, waiting through long lines and working through parking issues, 870 Republicans from Douglas and area counties voted at South Junior High School, 2734 La.

Registered Republicans could vote at any site in their congressional district. Lawrence’s site allowed votes from the 3rd and 2nd districts to cast votes, but many voters came from Miami, Franklin and other area counties also to caucus there.

County leaders acknowledged it was difficult to plan for turnout, and they expected 400 to 500 people. The higher numbers of voters forced some voters to wait in line for more than 90 minutes, but because the building has several hallways, some voters only had to wait outside for a short time.

Some complained about the wait in line because only a few volunteers were checking registration. Some voters also said they were unable to hear speeches from campaign representatives because the public-address system didn’t work in the auditorium.

And some participants said the process was confusing and did not seem organized.

“They were clearly overwhelmed by the number of people who showed up,” said Jake Messersmith, a McCain supporter and Lawrence resident.

Jason Littlejohn, who supported Paul, used a video camera to document some part of the process. He said some votes were cast and allowed to be counted after voting was declared closed. He also said some voters may have been confused on which congressional district box to place their ballots.

“I care about the process. I want an honest process,” Littlejohn said.

Douglas County Republican Chairman Craig Campbell said about four voters were allowed to cast votes while volunteers were counting votes because the voters said they had come earlier, waited in line and had to leave but returned. He also said organizers were confident that votes were counted in the correct congressional districts because of a color-coded sticker system.

Three of Paul’s supporters helped count the votes, and they were satisfied with the results and a third-place finish at the site, said Adam Wood, a KU junior and Douglas County coordinator for the campaign.

Others said most people in line were glad just to participate.

“They are really upbeat about being able to exercise their voting privileges and letting their voice be heard,” said Tim O’Dea, of Le Loup in Franklin County.

Campbell said overall, the event went well because more than 90 percent of voters cast a ballot 90 minutes from the start of the caucus. The event also came with a few glitches like the microphone, but many voters were likely already decided on their votes, he said.

It was the first caucus of some significance in two decades. Many organizers and participants were unfamiliar with the process, which made it difficult to plan for. The race also changed this week when former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts suspended his campaign, giving another edge to McCain.

“It’s kind of messy, but I’ve never been to one before, so for all I know, this is normal,” said Mary Scott, of Eudora.

When the Legislature decided not to fund a primary election, which could cost about $2 million, state parties were responsible for the caucuses. Campbell said it cost the county party only about $200 to rent South plus some other minimal expenses.

Local GOP office holders and candidates, like Jim Ryun, who is trying to win back a U.S. House seat, spent time mingling among voters. Party leaders said the turnout was encouraging even if it led to some long lines.

“We’ll be sitting down and reviewing that. At least we can get ideas down on paper while it’s still fresh in our heads,” Campbell said.

The local turnout didn’t match the 4,872 Democrats who voted in Tuesday’s caucuses at Lawrence sites. But Campbell said that wasn’t surprising because of county Democratic leanings, Romney’s exit and McCain’s lead in the national delegate count.

Conservative support

Huckabee capitalized on conservative voters in Kansas, and he made four stops across the state Friday while McCain touched down only in Wichita.

The low vote totals for McCain was also seen as somewhat surprising because U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and a conservative Republican endorsed McCain and stumped heavily for him.

“McCain has a long way to go towards unifying the Republican party,” said Joe Aistrup, head of Kansas State University’s political science department.

Now, it also appears to be a two-man race with Huckabee benefiting from Romney’s departure, said Beatty, of Washburn University’s faculty.

Huckabee’s supporters also said the race still was not over.

“It’s important for when the election comes up that he’ll know that I supported him in the caucuses,” said Cole Brown, a Lawrence resident.

Huckabee’s win in Kansas was cheered loudly by the conservative Kansas Republican Assembly and Kansans for Life, which is the largest anti-abortion group on the state.

“The results show that even if the conservative voters had continued to remain split between Governors’ Huckabee and Romney, as they were earlier this week, either one could have easily defeated Sen. McCain,” said Charlotte Esau, KRA executive director.

“United, conservatives made it clear that they want their issues to have a key place at the table no matter who ends up being the Republican nominee,” she said.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said the “HuckaBOOM” in Kansas shows “it’s not over yet.”

Culp said that McCain’s choice of outgoing national Republican committeeman Steve Cloud as his Kansas campaign coordinator angered anti-abortion voters because of Cloud’s support of abortion-rights candidates.

“If McCain’s folks were serious about unity and reaching to conservatives, they didn’t show it,” she said.

Kobach said McCain’s earlier proposals to provide a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants has been unpopular. And, he said, evangelical Christians break toward Huckabee.

“My speculation on this is it’s not that evangelical voters dislike John McCain, it’s that they really like Mike Huckabee,” he said.

Kobach, however, said he was confident that if McCain becomes the nominee, he will unite and energize Republicans from across the party’s spectrum.

“I think it’s a good thing this happened, frankly, for John McCain because he needs to see these statistics now rather than see them in July and August,” Kobach said.

“It’s important that he unify the Republican Party behind him, which I think he can do and he will do,” he said.