Kansas presidential caucuses could be rocky soil for leaders

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Bernie Sanders' progressive supporters and conservative Republican activists were hoping Kansas' presidential caucuses Saturday proved rocky soil for GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Democratic leader Hillary Clinton.

Trump was making an appearance Saturday in Wichita, the state's largest city, just before voting started there in the local GOP caucus. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also was visiting, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had three campaign events Friday.

Trump leads the Republican race nationally, but in Kansas, the billionaire businessman seemed more the insurgent, with most of the Kansas party establishment wary of him. But the majority of the state GOP's top elected officials and rank-and-file activists were split between Cruz and Rubio.

Clinton had a different challenge. The former U.S. secretary of state is the choice of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and other state party establishment figures, working to prevent a surge of new voters and energized progressives from bolstering the challenge from Sanders, the Vermont senator.

Voting was opening at 10 a.m. for Republicans and was by secret paper ballot at 103 sites, including one at a St. Louis hotel for Wichita State University basketball fans there for a conference tournament. Democrats had 47 sites, opening at 1 p.m., and voting was to start after 3 p.m., with participants clustering in groups to show which candidate they back.

Republicans have 40 delegates to their national convention at stake, with 37 to be allocated proportionally among the candidates receiving at least 10 percent of the vote. The other three were party leaders required to back the statewide winner.

Clinton went into the caucuses with the endorsement of one of the state's four party-leader superdelegates, who can back whomever they choose. The caucuses would determine how the state's 33 other delegates would be allocated, also proportionally.

Her backers were trying to avoid a repeat of her 2008 race in Kansas, when supporters of Barack Obama overwhelmed caucus sites and gave him a sweeping victory. But Obama had the backing of state party leaders — including Sebelius.

Kansas Republicans have shown an iconoclastic but conservative streak in the most recent previous caucuses. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and ex-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum won the 2008 and 2012 caucuses over eventual nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney.

By John Hanna. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.

The Gayly- 3/5/2016 @ 8:23 AM CST