Santorum Aims For Strong Showing In Kansas, But Delegate Game Could Favor Romney Rick Santorum was fighting Saturday to creep up on Mitt Romney's lead with a win in the Kansas caucuses -- but the complexities of the delegate process combined with a string of contests in U.S. territories could make that task nearly impossible. The former Pennsylvania senator, on what should be a day for his socially conservative campaign to shine in a socially conservative state, started off the day at a deficit. The Romney campaign's island-hopping paid off with under-the-radar victories in the South Pacific. Romney picked up nine delegates each in caucuses held by Republicans in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, both U.S. territories that participate in the party nominating contest. The U.S. Virgin Islands is also weighing in Saturday. The Romney campaign had dispatched his son Matt to both Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Fewer than 1,000 people voted in each contest. Guam's Republicans decided to shun traditional paper ballots, and all 215 eligible to vote at the state convention backed Romney with a show of hands. "I am honored to have won the Guam caucuses, an important milestone in my quest to restore America to the principles and practices that made us great," Romney said in a statement. Kansas, with 40 delegates on the table, is worth more than all the island contests put together -- and Santorum, as well as Ron Paul, spent Friday campaigning there. However, Santorum could have a hard time making any gains on Romney Saturday even if he does pull off a decisive victory in Kansas. Kansas awards 28 of its delegates on a proportional basis -- meaning, for instance, that the second-place finisher could get nearly as many delegates as the winner. This is what happened when Santorum won Oklahoma on Tuesday, yet ended up with just one more delegate than Romney and Newt Gingrich. The rest of Kansas' delegates could all go to the winner of Saturday's contest, if the winner performs well across the state. The delegate process, while enormously convoluted, has frustrated Romney's opponents as they try to catch his lead. Every contest seems to leave the GOP presidential leaderboard looking the same -- with Romney well out in front, Santorum in second, Gingrich in third and Paul a distant fourth. Paul has not yet won a primary contest. Gingrich has won two -- in South Carolina and Georgia. Santorum's supporters have been urging Gingrich to bow out of the race, arguing that the former speaker is drawing votes away from their candidate and making Romney's path to the nomination even easier. Gingrich, though, told The Associated Press he plans to stay in the race -- even if he loses upcoming primaries in Alabama and Mississippi, which are considered crucial to his southern strategy. Wyoming is also holding the latest round of voting in its caucuses on Saturday. In the first round held last week, four delegates went to Romney, and one to Paul. Another six delegates will be decided Saturday. Gingrich trails with 107 and Paul has 46, according to Associated Press calculations.