U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, right, drew a large crowd for his reception at the Kansas Republican Party's state convention this week. His reception coincided with the KU-K-State basketball game, which was shown on a large-screen TV in the room. Joining him on stage were fellow GOP Sens.. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Pat Roberts of Kansas.

Topeka ? Fresh off its sweeping electoral wins in the 2014 campaign, the Kansas Republican Party turned its focus this weekend to 2016, when U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran will be at the top of the state ticket.

Moran’s reception at the party’s annual state convention in Topeka on Saturday drew one of the largest crowds party officials could remember, bolstered by the fact that the Kansas University vs. Kansas State University basketball game was also being projected on a big-screen TV behind the stage.

But the crowd grew even more excited at halftime, when Moran took the stage, all but kicking off his 2016 re-election campaign. Joining him on stage was Sen. Joni Ernst, the freshman Republican from Iowa who gave the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Jan. 20.

Ernst gave Moran, who headed the National Republican Senatorial Committee last year, credit for her winning a seat formerly held by Democrat Tom Harkin, and for Republicans winning back a majority in the U.S. Senate last year.

“He served in such a difficult position in such a tough, tough time,” Ernst said. “But because of Jerry Moran and all the assistance he was able to give, in my race in particular, I am now serving in the United States Senate.”

The 2014 campaign proved especially tough in Moran’s own back yard, where his colleague, Sen. Pat Roberts, barely survived a tea party primary challenge, and then trailed in many of the polls leading up to Election Day against independent candidate Greg Orman.

A surge of nearly $17 million in independent expenditures in the final weeks of the campaign, mainly from groups supporting Roberts or opposing Orman, carried him over the finish line. Some analysts said that final push helped save Gov. Sam Brownback, who also was trailing in the polls leading up to Election Day.

Moran acknowledged that’s not likely to happen again in 2016, but said he believes the state party is still in good shape heading into the next election cycle.

“I think it’s always important how we govern, what happens in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “And what Republicans do with their majority has a determining effect upon elections in Kansas in 2016. But Kansas is historically a Republican state. You never take anything for granted, but Kansans are likely to support a Republican in the United States Senate and other offices.”

Presidential poll

The hallways and reception rooms at the convention were full of talk about the 2016 presidential race, and that included a straw poll of state committee members and other attendees about who they prefer among the current field of candidates.

Just before the convention got underway Friday, the field was narrowed when Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee, announced he would not seek the nomination again.

For the past several years, the Kansas GOP has leaned more conservative than the national party. In 2008, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Kansas primary over the eventual nominee, Sen. John McCain. And in 2012, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum won Kansas over Romney.

In this year’s straw poll of state committee members, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was the clear favorite. Walker took 83 of the 174 votes, followed by conservative author and commentator Dr. Ben Carson with 46; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 28; and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with 20.

The party also conducted another straw poll, which coupled as a fundraiser, in which anyone could pay $2 per ballot to vote an unlimited number of times. In that poll, Walker and Carson still came out in the number one and two positions, respectively, followed by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in a distant third and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in fourth.

State budget worsens

Gov. Sam Brownback greeted fellow Republicans at the state party convention in Topeka Saturday, a day after it was reported that January revenues came in 7.2 million below projections.

The mood at the GOP convention was partially dampened on Friday with news that state revenues in January came in $47.2 million short of projections, deepening the budget hole that Gov. Brownback and the Republican-dominated Legislature now have to dig out of.

Democrats immediately blamed the shortfall on the sweeping tax cuts Brownback and his legislative allies pushed through in 2012 and 2013. But administration officials said much of it resulted from changes at the IRS, which is now processing early income tax refunds faster than before.

Republican leaders in the Legislature, including Senate President Susan Wagle of Wichita, said the drop in revenues may force even deeper spending cuts between now and the end of this fiscal year. But Brownback said Saturday he wasn’t ready to make any quick decisions.

“I wish we had more coming in,” Brownback said. “That would make it easier. But the Legislature, everybody’s going to work to get it fixed. We have to balance the budget. It will happen. But it’s going to be a massive, tough process. That’s why everybody’s wrestling so hard with it now.”