Presidential hopefuls make last push in Mo.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- With phone calls, TV ads and surrogate campaigners, supporters of the leading presidential candidates are making a final, frenzied push to get Missourians to the polls on Super Tuesday.

Missouri is one of about two dozen states where people will be voting for their favored Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Unlike in some other states, Missourians can vote in any primary they want -- no party registration is required, and there is no record of which ballot people choose.

All indications point to a higher-than-usual turnout for the presidential primaries.

Based on a compilation of local projections, the secretary of state's office expects about 28 percent of registered voters to cast ballots -- more than twice the turnout for the 2004 presidential primaries. Many local election officials say absentee voting is running ahead of years past.

"It's more exciting than it's been in quite a while," said political scientist Jim Davis, 72, a professor emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis.

Many candidates

Missouri ballots will list 12 Republican candidates, nine Democrats and six Libertarians, including several candidates who have dropped out since filing for office last fall.

But the Democratic contest was down to a two-person race between New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. They likely will divide Missouri's 72 delegates at stake Tuesday, which are allocated on the percentage of the vote candidates receive both statewide and in each congressional district.

Missouri's Republican primary was expected to be a three-way race among Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. The candidate with the most statewide votes will receive all 58 of Missouri's delegates to the Republican National Convention.

All five leading Democratic and Republican candidates made campaign stops in Missouri between Friday and Sunday. But none was in the state Monday.

Instead, their campaigns used other means to try to generate attention and encourage people to vote. Missourians who voted in the past were the most likely to receive a get-out-to-vote phone call -- either live or prerecorded -- highlighting the virtues of a particular candidate or criticizing a rival.

Last-minute campaigning

Romney's wife, Ann, campaigned Monday in Independence while Republican Gov. Matt Blunt went on national TV to talk up Romney.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle stopped in Kansas City early Monday on behalf of Obama while Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill appeared in national and statewide TV ads for Obama. As the only woman senator to endorse him, McCaskill played a key role in his efforts to win female voters away from Clinton.

Former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack was to campaign Monday for Clinton in rural Palmyra and Kirksville. U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver also was to moderate the Kansas City portion of a national town hall meeting Monday night for Clinton. She trumpeted the endorsements Monday of former Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell and several others who had backed Democrat John Edwards before he dropped out of the race.

McCain, meanwhile, announced the endorsements of eight state House members.

Huckabee, a Baptist minister, continued airing a TV ad highlighting his religious beliefs.