Rosner: Hillary Clinton comes out swinging as Ohio primary nears

OHIO - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni does not yet know which of the U.S. presidential primary candidates she will meet when she visits the United States in 10 days. It is hard to plan such encounters when no one knows whether by the time she arrives, Hillary Clinton will be history, and Barack Obama and John McCain will be the official candidates. How can anyone know? On March 11, Mississippi goes to the polls, and if the battle is not decided by then, the candidates will still be busy campaigning when Livni lands in Washington.

The Ohio primary is set for Tuesday, and interest in it grows with every passing day. Absentee voters have shown a historic interest in the contest. In the 2000 primaries, about 10,000 votes were cast before election day. In the 2004 primaries the number was 9,500. This year, in the Cincinnati area alone, 40,000 people filed for absentee ballots. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said Friday that she expected a 52-percent voter turnout rate for the primaries. That is only 1 percent less than the turnout for the 2006 gubernatorial elections, which usually sees many more people than the primaries do.