Donald Trump had a super Tuesday, but Saturday's fights could provide a bumpier ride.

Four states will vote in the 2016 Republican presidential nominating campaign on Saturday, but three of them will conduct caucuses – a process that hasn't been kind to the GOP front-runner.

Of the four caucuses held to date, Trump has conquered just one, winning Nevada's.

Balloting in Kansas, Kentucky and Maine will provide a test of Trump's organizational prowess in lower turnout, party-powered affairs that often require diligent groundwork and reward the sustained nurturing of wired activists.



The one state in which Trump holds an overwhelming lead is Louisiana, which will allocate its 46 delegates through a traditional primary.

But the other three battles present more dicey terrain for The Donald, giving his opponents hope that they can dent his winning streak, carve into his delegate advantage and accrue momentum for the bigger contests ahead.

The goal: Prevent Trump from taking a majority of the contests, thereby slapping him with new doubts about the strength of his candidacy heading into the Sunday morning news cycle.

Here's the U.S. News scouting report on Saturday's contests.

Kansas

The Sunflower State may be one of the smallest in the union, but its Republicans don't like to be overlooked.

Randy Duncan, GOP chairman in Kansas' rural 1st Congressional District, recalls the 2012 race when Newt Gingrich canceled campaign stops in the state. That made it an easy call for conservative Kansans, who rallied to Rick Santorum and handed him a galvanizing 30-point victory over Mitt Romney.



"Kansas likes to be catered to," Duncan says. "Santorum came to the state and asked for our votes, Gingrich did not. It made people mad. It hurts when you don't come. If they ignore us and don't come, they're not going to get our vote. It makes a big difference with Kansans."

To that end, both Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio made stops in Kansas this week, and Trump added a last-minute visit Saturday, choosing to bypass the Conservative Political Action Conference for a caucus day rally in Wichita.

"Amongst the party faithful, I think it's between Cruz and Rubio, with Cruz being No. 1," Duncan says. "Our party is very conservative in Kansas. Cruz is the most in line with our party and our party platform."

One poll by the Trafalgar Group showed Trump with a slight advantage toward winning a majority of the state's 40 delegates, with Cruz in second and Rubio trailing in third.

Yet Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo, who is supporting Rubio and sees a competitive race in his state, says its closed caucus could be a challenge for Trump.

"Much of the previous voting that has taken place with Democrats and independents is not possible. It is a different playing field here," he says. "Conservatives aren't going to vote for a big government liberal like Mr. Trump."

The state Republican Party is taking its caucus so seriously that it has even set up a voting location outside the state. One Kansas GOP caucus site will be propped up in St. Louis to accommodate fans traveling to Missouri to watch Wichita State University compete in a conference basketball tournament.

Kentucky

The Bluegrass State is new to the caucus experience, having held primaries prior to this year, and that has some activists worried about a dismal turnout.



"There's been almost no publicity for it. I talk to a number of people who have no idea this is coming," says Scott Hofstra, a top tea party leader in the state who is co-chairing Cruz's effort there. "The Republican Party has done an abysmal job in getting the word out."

A source corralling an anti-Trump coalition in Kentucky tells U.S. News that Rubio appeared better positioned than Cruz to swipe the state from Trump, based partly on the Floridian's robust support among state legislators, county leaders and those in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's political orbit, all of whom can mobilize participants.

But then came word that Rubio had scrapped a Friday campaign stop in the state, an indication that he may see Kentucky as falling out of reach. One plugged-in Kentucky Republican relays the cancellation was the result of the campaign's decision to "focus everything on Florida," a message that doesn't portray confidence in Rubio's chances in Saturday's series of contests.

Meanwhile, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who ended his own White House run after the Iowa caucuses, loathes Trump so severely he's attempting to mobilize his supporters against the billionaire.

The open question is whether Paul's libertarian followers understand that Rubio has the better shot at upending Trump in Kentucky and that a vote for Cruz could push Trump forward.

"Let's hope they embrace tactical caucusing. And they are gonna want to drift to Cruz. The key is Trump can't win," says the activist organizing the anti-Trump effort.

But because Kentucky – holding 46 delegates – is caucusing the for the first time, most observers agree the outcome is a complete wild card.

Maine

Maine's caucuses are a symbol of frustration and consternation within the Republican Party due to its harrowing experience in 2012. While Mitt Romney edged out Ron Paul in the popular vote there four years ago, he emerged with only a pair of delegates – a byproduct of the state's quirky allocation rules.



But if any caucus is tailor-made for Trump, it's the one in the Pine Street State, a New England enclave with an overwhelmingly white electorate that already has a loudmouth, radioactive politician of its own in Republican Gov. Paul LePage.

LePage naturally supports Trump, now that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has bowed out of the race. But again, there's been little polling of the contest, and Paul proved last cycle that behind-the-scenes organization can prove very effective.

Of the four contests, Maine is the smallest prize, with just 23 delegates.

Louisiana

This is Trump's strongest Saturday state, without a doubt. With past primary victors including Rick Santorum in 2012, Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Pat Buchanan in 1996, look for an early call when polls close just after 9 p.m Eastern Standard Time.

Two separate surveys of the state taken earlier this week showed Trump ahead by 20 and 18 points, respectively.

Trump, according to one of those polls, is winning easily among almost every ideological and demographic group – from moderates to tea partiers to libertarians, from seniors to those in their 30s and 40s. (He loses the 18-25 age group bracket to Cruz.)