Rich Santorum swept like a prairie fire through Kansas on Saturday, a poet wrote for the Kansas City Star Sunday.
Deeper into the story, the writer settled down and reported the unpoetic fact that only 30,832 of the 763,640 who registered as Republicans in 2010 went to the caucuses and voted.
Correction:
Santorum swept through Kansas like a fire in a newsroom wastepaper basket — just before a reporter put it out with his cold coffee.
This is not a put-down of the Pennsylvania ex-senator. It is an effort to paint an accurate picture of what happened in our state Saturday. The caucuses were attended by a little more than 4 percent of the state’s Republicans. Most who attend caucuses are actively committed to a candidate and a political agenda. Needless to say, they do not represent those who don’t fit that description — the other 95 percent.
It is instructive the Kansas Republican caucus in 2008 went strongly for Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and former evangelical preacher, who, like Santorum, ran on his religious credentials. Huckabee flamed out early, defeated for the nomination by Sen. John McCain.
It also should be observed McCain earned his prominence on the American scene by surviving years of cruel imprisonment in Vietnam and then became a U.S. senator dedicated to the military and its traditions. His personal philosophy and chosen political priorities set him apart from Huckabee and, it would seem, Santorum today.
However that may be, the public and the candidates themselves should read the caucus results for what they are at this point in our political history: reports on whom the zealots in the party favor. Those reports have a poor record of predicting presidential nominations and November victories.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
