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Santorum Wins Kansas, Romney Picks Up Pacific Delegates

Rick Santorum
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Rick Santorum won the Kansas caucuses Saturday, picking up a healthy chunk of the state’s delegates, while Mitt Romney got a string of wins in U.S territories in the Pacific, adding to his existing delegate lead.

The split ensured a continued slog, adding weeks to a process many in the Republican establishment say needs to end sooner rather than later.

Santorum ran virtually alone in Kansas in the run up to the day’s caucusing — both Romney and Newt Gingrich canceled events in the Sunflower State last week — and only Romney sent a surrogate to campaign for delegates there.

Santorum’s triumph in Kansas continues a Midwest streak: He had already won Oklahoma and North Dakota.

“We are very pleased to see the Santorum surge sweeping through the Jayhawk State,” Santorum’s communications director, Hogan Gidley, said in a statement. “This is a great win for the campaign and further evidence that conservatives and tea party loyalists are uniting behind Rick as the true, consistent conservative in this race.”

But Romney, who won Guam and Northern Marianas on Saturday, is hoping his continuing delegate lead will finally push Santorum and Gingrich to drop out, putting an end to a nasty primary fight that’s left Romney battered heading into the general election.

Now the campaign moves South, where the candidates will battle it out for delegates in Mississippi and Alabama. Those states, along with Hawaii, vote on Tuesday.

The results there aren’t likely to bring an end to the primary, either. The two Southern states aren’t exactly Romney country, so the battle will likely be left to Santorum and Gingrich. Santorum’s camp has said that Gingrich should quit the race if he loses the two contests, but Gingrich said Friday he’s staying in no matter what happens.

Update: The AP reports Romney also won in Wyoming and the U.S. Virgin Islands Saturday:

The contests in Kansas and Wyoming left Romney with 454 delegates in the AP’s count, more than all his rivals combined. Santorum had 217, while Gingrich had 107 and Paul had 47.

Romney’s campaign was quick to capitalize on the delegate win Saturday, as it has throughout the campaign.

“In what was hyped as a big opportunity for Rick Santorum, he again fell short of making a dent in Mitt Romney’s already large delegate lead,” Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul said in an email.

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