Santorum looks to rural vote for in in Kansas; analysts try to explain why he loses Catholic vote

Santorum in Mobile, Ala.
(Photo by Eric Gay, Associated Press)

Rural voters could account for about half the turnout in tomorrow's Republican caucuses in Kansas, and that should help Rick Santorum, Felicia Sonmez reports for The Washington Post: "Four years ago, 44 percent of Kansas’ general-election voters hailed from rural areas. That percentage is likely to be even greater in tomorrow’s GOP caucuses. In this year’s contests, Santorum has tended to do well in the rural Midwest — in Iowa, for instance, where 50 percent of the GOP caucus electorate was from rural areas, Santorum placed first among those voters with 26 percent."

Ron Paul is hoping for his first victory in the midday caucuses, but "From the climate of the state, I would think Santorum ought to do OK," University of Kansas political-science professor Allan Cigler told David Lightman of McClatchy Newspapers. Mitt "Romney will get some support, but by and large, only people like Paul and Santorum issue-wise fit many parts of the state." (Read more)

CNN's Jim Acosta reported on "The Situation Room" this afternoon, "The Romney campaign, it looks like has essentially given up on Kansas." Acosta reported from Birmingham; Alabama and Mississippi hold primaries Tuesday. For details on the Kansas caucuses, from The Wichita Eagle, click here.

UPDATE, March 10: Dan Balz and Scott Clement of The Washington Post explore why the devoutly Catholic Santorum is losing the Catholic vote to Romney. University of Akron political scientist John C. Green, a specialist in the influence of religion in politics, told Tom Suddes of The Plain Dealer: "I suspect that Santorum did much better with the more traditional Catholics, especially in western Ohio, and Romney did better with middle-of-the-road and the more progressive Catholics in the three major metropolitan areas. Exit polls didn't have a good measure of religiosity, such as Mass attendance. . . . Regular Mass-attending Catholics are more Republican, [while] less-observant Catholics are more Democratic." (Read more)