It is full steam ahead for the McCain campaign despite today’s loss to Mike Huckabee in the Kansas caucus.

“Our campaign fully expected to fall short in the Kansas caucus. John McCain is the presumptive nominee in this race, our path forward is unchanged by today’s results, and our focus remains the same: uniting the Republican party to defeat Democrats in 2008,” campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said.

The Arizona senator has never run well in caucus states, finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses last month and losing to Huckabee and Mitt Romney in caucuses held on February 5th across the midwest. McCain, who currently has more than 700 delegates under his belt and leads Huckabee by almost 500, is focussed on Tuesday’s “Potomac Primary” in Maryland, Virginia and DC. The campaign is aiming to hit the necessary 1,200 delegates for the nomination in the next four to six weeks.

McCain is spending the weekend with family in California and has no public appearances scheduled until Monday.

When Obama took the stage at a rally in El Dorado, Kansas, today, he told the cheering crowd to take a seat. “We’re among friends here. We’re family,” he said. Although Obama never lived there, his maternal grandparents did. Stanley and Madelyn Dunham were Kansas natives and his mother was born on a military base in the state - and he did mention that in his speech.

But it was still a surprise when Obama pointed out a 72-year-old woman in the crowd and introduced her (incorrectly) as his grandfather’s aunt. Actually, Margaret Wolf is Obama’s grandmother’s cousin and has now met Obama three times. Wolf didn’t tell the campaign that she was going make the hour and a half drive to hear her cousin, Barack Obama, but the senator spotted her and gave her a kiss on the cheek on his way to the podium.

The African American who was born in Hawaii, raised as a child in Indonesia, and schooled on the East Coast, was sure to include his heartland background to the 2,000 Kansans gathered - he, after all, is the candidate who says he can bridge divides. “Our family’s story is one that spans miles and generations; races and realities. It’s the story of farmers and soldiers; city workers and single moms. It takes place in small towns and good schools; in Kansas and Kenya; on the shores of Hawaii and the streets of Chicago. It’s a varied and unlikely journey, but one that’s held together by the same simple dream. And that is why it’s American,” he said to applause.

Obama also received the endorsment of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who touted Obama’s Midwestern values as a reason for her choice. “Barack Obama has Midwestern values, values that we know about, and he got them from his grandparents and his mom. He understands how to bring people together across party lines. He understands how to give people hope for the future. He understands the value of education, transformational value of education. He doesn’t just talk about it, he lives it, he thinks it, he breaths it. He will lead with those values,” she told the room.

Following the event a handful of reporters sought out Ms. Wolf in the crowd to ask her about her family - take a look at Obama recognizing her at the start of his Kansas event and her comments to reporters here:

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The Kansas caucus is on February 5th.