PARSONS — Republicans in southeast Kansas spoke loud and clear here Saturday — they want Rick Santorum to be the man who takes on President Barack Obama in November.
Returns from southeast Kansas’ GOP 2012 Caucus gave Santorum a decisive victory in the region and the state amid his bid for the White House.
The former Senator from Pennsylvania received 304 votes, 51 percent, of the 591 ballots cast by Allen, Neosho, Labette, Cherokee and Wilson County Republicans during the three-hour caucus.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney garnered the second highest vote total with 105. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich was third with 97 votes and Texas Congressman Ron Paul had 81. Texas Governor Rick Perry, who dropped out of the race in January, received one vote.
Republicans from across Kansas saw eye-to-eye during this GOP nomination process with statewide results mirroring numbers coming out of southeast Kansas.
Santorum, who made stops in Lenexa and Wichita Friday, won 33 of the 40 delegates at stake of the statewide vote. Romney edged came away with seven.
Allen County Republican and caucus voter Carol Meeker said Kansans support a Santorum nomination because of his moral integrity.
“He’s not afraid to stand up for what he believes in even though he might be criticized for it,” she said. “He is a man of character.”
Doug Alexander, Parsons businessman, political activist and Labette County Republican, spoke on Santorum’s behalf before voters cast their ballots, saying Kansans weren’t going to “settle” for a candidate who didn’t reflect their values and beliefs.
Electing a candidate because they have the most name recognition, money and attention or because they are moderate in their ideologies, Alexander said, doesn’t equate to success in the general election.
“To believe this we must put our eyes past history,” he said. “Gerald Ford did not beat Jimmy Carter. John McCain did not beat Barack Obama.
“To believe this we forget the nature of the problem we face and the conservative cause for which we are fighting,” Alexander continued. “To believe we must settle, we must abandon the issues that have defined us.”
Despite Santorum’s strong performance in southeast Kansas and beyond, Romney still leads in the national delegate count with 454.
Santorum has 217, while Gingrich has 107 and Paul has 47 delegates secured.
A candidate must secure at least 1,144 delegates to earn the GOP nomination at the Republican National Convention in August.
