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Wyandotte County Republicans' votes Saturday outdid even the Sunflower State's caucus results as a whole in their preference for Mike Huckabee over presumed frontrunner Sen. John McCain.

The former Arkansas governor garnered 277 votes versus 62 for the Arizona senator. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., whose supporters' enthusiasm and outbursts during speeches seemed until the votes were tallied to make up for their numbers, netted 45 votes.

Statewide, Huckabee collected 11,627 votes, McCain received 4,587 and Paul got 2,182.

Despite the conventional wisdom that the Republican presidential nomination had been all but wrapped up for McCain, the caucus, held at Open Door Baptist Church, 3303 103rd St., Kansas City, Kan., attracted 403 voters.

"I'm been running around like a chicken with its head cut off," said Donna Harsh, chairman of Wyandotte County GOP, in the approximate half hour between the doors opening at 10 a.m. and the official speeches kicking off.

Harsh said while the attendance at Saturday's event was surprisingly good, it was smaller than the last caucus held in the county, 20 years ago.

"There was bigger attendance" then, Harsh said, "because it was the first time Jerry Falwell's people came."

Falwell headed the Moral Majority, a right-wing coalition of evangelical Christians.

Although there was no official campaign presence Saturday for candidate Alan Keyes, an "unofficial speaker" for Keyes, whose time was limited to one minute, was the first to give a speech in support of a candidate.

The short, redheaded and bespectacled young woman said she liked Keyes ever since seeing him at a fundraiser for a women's clinic, and that she was "saddened at our system" because it "overlooks candidates" like Keyes.

Keyes received two votes in the caucus, one less than Fred Thompson, who officially dropped out of the presidential race last month. Keyes first ran for president in 1996 and lost his bid for a U.S. Senate Illinois seat to Barack Obama, one of the two main Democratic candidates for president.

Richard Horn was one of several people manning the Ron Paul table in the church's gymnasium, gave the first official candidate speech. The gymnasium was standing-room only by the time the speeches began.

Horn began by saying that he was an accountant, a fact that was relevant "because pundits tell you we're a bunch of kooks."

Horn went on to describe Paul as "the only real conservative in the race," and that the congressional elections of 2006 - in which Republicans lost control of both houses in Congress - served as proof that "70 percent of the people want change."

Horn also described Paul as "the only candidate to introduce legislation to overturn Roe v. Wade," and that the candidate wants to "replace the income tax with nothing."

Scattered applause and hooting met Horn's statement that that Paul "is the best choice to defeat a 'Hildebeest' presidency."

Horn closed with the exhortation that "a vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil."

Next at the rostrum was Donna Owens, an Overland Park City Council member and wife of Kansas State Rep. Tim Owens, who couldn't speak because of an illness, she said.

Owens began by emphasizing McCain's military record as a Vietnam veteran and prisoner, which she said made him the only candidate able to "hit the ground running as commander in chief."

McCain stands for "family values," Owens said, and "victory in the Middle East," the alternative to which is the danger that "radical Islam" will "destroy our way of life."

As a senator in Arizona, Owens said McCain understood the challenges of the issues surrounding immigration.

At this point someone in the audience near the Ron Paul supporters hollered "No amnesty!"

"We in the Republican Party must pay attention to electability," Owens continued. "He alone is the person to beat (Barack) Obama or Hillary (Clinton)."

The next speaker was Joshua Berry, who spoke for Huckabee.

The main issue, as Berry described it, was the "homosexual agenda," which he mentioned twice in his 10-minute speech. Berry said he was married and that he and his wife felt like "no candidate was speaking" to them.

Huckabee, who is a Baptist minister, was the only candidate who wants to amend the Constitution to ban gay marriage,Berry said.

If gay marriage is legalized, Berry said, that plank in the GOP platform is "gone forever."

Up to four Supreme Court seats could be selected by the next president, Berry said, and "the most important part is we don't need liberal judges pushing a gay agenda."

Berry said he was sick of Republican candidates "just dangling the issue of abortion" before him.

During Berry's speech Ron Paul supporters yelled "Tax Hike Mike!" and "Ron Paul! Fiscal Responsibility!"

Berry went on to say the former governor was the "the only candidate to sign a 'no-amnesty' pledge."

Regarding the issue of electability, Berry said there were 26 states left, and that the states that McCain had swept in Super Tuesday primaries were ones that weren't going to give their electoral votes to the Republican nominee. Therefore, Berry said, the GOP needs Southern states, where Huckabee has fared well in primaries.

"He's running for vice president!" hollered a Ron Paul supporter at this point.

After the speeches attendees lined up to cast their votes.

Edwardsville resident and self-described conservative Sue Adams said she had been impressed with the speaker for Huckabee, and liked the candidate as well, because he's "pro-life. That's a huge one for me."

As the voting was still in progress, Adams said she was surprised "just listening to the crowd" at the apparent support Huckabee seemed to be enjoying at the caucus.

Adams wasn't the only Edwardsville supporter of Huckabee at the caucus. Waiting to cast his vote, John Altevogt, who has also made a name for himself regionally as a conservative commentator in newspapers and radio, said he was "probably voting for Huckabee."

Still, "I have moments," Altevogt said, when he's tempted to pull the lever for Paul.

The problem, Altevogt said, was "we have five candidates running from their record, and three running on principle."

The three in the latter category, by his lights - Paul, Keyes and Rep. Duncan Hunter, D-Cal. - are considered "not electable," Altevogt said, even though they have "nothing to run away from in their record."

Hunter was not on Saturday's ballot.

Altevogt said darkly of McCain's nomination, "I think a lot of people view it as a done deal."

But if the assumption proves correct, Altevogt said, "I suspect I will vote for him."

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