WASHINGTON — Mike Huckabee won the Kansas Republican presidential caucuses, beating John McCain, according to projections by television networks and the Associated Press.
With 79 percent of Kansas's precincts reporting, former Arkansas governor Huckabee was leading 62 percent to 22 percent for Arizona Sen. McCain and 11 percent for Ron Paul.
At stake in today's vote are 36 of the state's 39 delegates to the Republican National Convention in September. The state has three so-called super delegates who can decide on their own who to support.
A candidate needs at least 1,191 delegates to win the Republican nomination, and an AP count, heading into today, showed McCain with 719 to 198 for Huckabee.
Huckabee, campaigning in Washington today, vowed to stay in the race. "I want to make sure you understand," Huckabee, 52, told the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, according to AP. "Am I quitting? Let's get that settled right now. No, I'm not."
A nationwide survey of Republican voters showed McCain, 71, poised to wrap up the party's presidential nomination, widening his lead with 51 percent support over Huckabee's 32 percent and Paul's 6 percent. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney withdrew from the race Feb. 7.
The telephone survey, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, included 463 Republicans with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
The results are based on interviews done the evening of Feb. 7 after Romney withdrew.
For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.