Of these 745,000 Republicans, an amazingly small 30,000 bothered to attend the Republican caucuses today. That is 4%. Four out of every 100 Kansas Republicans thought influencing the identity of the party's eventual nominee for president worth their time and effort on a March Saturday morning with the 60 degree weather feeling like spring.
Of those 30,000 Republicans Santorum won the support of half, a respectable showing. See a Yahoo News article for details.
I conclude that primaries and caucuses measure different things. Primary elections measure willingness to vote for a particular candidate. Caucuses measure willingness to work for a candidate.
These are quite different things. Caucuses are much more a modern version of the old smoked filled room; letting the party activists choose the candidate. Primary elections amount to letting the voters choose the candidate.
Decent arguments can be made in favor of each method. I personally prefer primaries.
