Mississippi Primaries Voters Turnout Greeted by Rain

The sun didn't rise on South Mississippi this morning as the polls opened.

The rain, expected in much of the state, came down pretty heavy. There was no sun shining.

The turnout at my precinct in Gulfport, Mississippi, was decidedly less busy than I usually see in other elections. Even the poll workers acknowledged that the turnout was light.

The Mississippi primary is usually an afterthought since it comes much later in the campaign, but with this year's vote still being contested, the focus of the candidates has been turned to the importance of this Mississippi primary.

The predictions say that Barack Obama has a decided edge among the largely African-American Democratic voter constituency.

According to the Associated Press, in the last week, Mississippi has seen visits by Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton as well as former President Bill Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea.

The controversial possibility of Republican voters crossing over into the Democratic primary has sparked some heated conversation. In Mississippi, there is nothing stopping Republican voters from voting in the Democratic primary and my wife witnessed a voter doing just that when she went to vote this morning.

This lady made it no secret that she was a Republican but was going to vote in the Democratic primary today. The idea has been advanced that Republicans could have an effect on who the Democratic candidate was going to be in Mississippi and try to swing the vote to the candidate that has the least chance of defeating John McCain in the November elections.

Personally I don't think that is a big factor among the people that I know who are Republican voters.

There are two open Congressional seats in Mississippi, which is rare, and that may affect the turnout.

The sun did shine by midday, but there were no messages in the sky as to who would win.