Lenexa ? Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum planned a rally Wednesday in northeast Kansas, a nod to the state’s suddenly hotly contested GOP presidential caucuses only a few days before voting.

The former Pennsylvania senator’s afternoon event at Harvest Graphics, a printing and business communications firm in the Kansas City suburb of Lenexa, takes him to Johnson County — the state’s most populous county and a GOP stronghold home to more than one-fifth of the state’s registered Republicans.

Rival Rep. Ron Paul of Texas planned multiple events in Kansas ahead of Saturday’s voting at 96 locations across the state. State GOP officials also were hoping for a visit from front-runner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich canceled his plans for stops in Kansas, instead focusing on upcoming contests in Southern states after his victory Tuesday in his home state of Georgia. Kansas GOP Executive Director Clay Barker said there was a chance that Gingrich surrogates could still attend events in the state, but nothing was confirmed as of Wednesday.

Kansas Republicans had hoped for such attention when they set their caucuses for the Saturday after Super Tuesday, which saw Romney pad his delegate count, though not nearly enough to knock his rivals out of the race.

Forty delegates to the Republican National Convention are at stake in Saturday’s voting in Kansas, and the party is hoping that between 50,000 and 60,000 registered Republicans participate.

Santorum’s strong conservative views on social issues such as abortion appeal to many of the GOP activists who control the Kansas party’s organization.

“We feel very optimistic,” said Greg Cromer, Santorum’s state coordinator. “This is certainly a conservative-friendly state.”

Gingrich had planned events in Topeka, Wichita and the Kansas City area on Friday. He also was he expected to attend caucuses Saturday in Wichita and Hutchinson. Paul had events scheduled in Topeka, Wichita and the Lied Center on Friday.

Whoever wins the GOP nomination is all but certain to carry Kansas in the November election. No Democrat has done it since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Republicans hold all statewide and congressional offices and have large majorities in the Legislature.