No, given precedent, the fact that Governor Sam Brownback (R) signed HB 2080 into law today, canceling the Sunflower state's 2012 presidential primary, should not come as a surprise. Kansas has not held a presidential primary since 1992, opting instead for cost savings and party-run caucuses. 2012 will now be no exception. The state stands to save $2 million by suspending the 2012 primary and waiting on 2016.
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Kansas Democrats have already centered in April 14 as the party's caucus date in its delegate selection plan. The Republican Party of Kansas will now be moved from the April 3 primary date -- now that it has been canceled -- to "no date" on FHQ's 2012 presidential primary calendar map.
UPDATE: This move makes Kansas the second state to cancel its presidential primary for 2012 in order to save funds (Washington was the first.). It will also likely be the last. Both Kansas and Washington were quirky cases. Kansas has obviously been canceling primaries for several consecutive cycles. Washington does not have the history of suspending primaries, but neither state party has fully utilized the primary to allocate delegates. The savings made sense in both cases. There is no legislation active elsewhere to cancel a presidential primary. There are, however, several states with legislation to eliminate separate presidential primaries; combining them with primaries for state and local offices.
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