Missouri isn't primary target this Tuesday

All eyes will be on Florida and Ohio next Tuesday with their winner-take-all primary elections that will potentially decide the outcome for both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.

Oh, and by the way, Missouri will hold its presidential primary on Tuesday as well.

If you have heard or read little about Missouri's primary, you're not alone.

When the dust settles come Tuesday night, the Democrats will be battling for a total of 691 delegates from Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois and North Carolina. The GOP hopefuls are fighting for 367 delegates in the five contested states.

But with their winner-take-all outcomes in Florida and Ohio, the focus will fall there and virtually ignore Missouri.

Have you noticed who is leading in the Missouri polls? Well once again, you're not alone because the polling is non-existent for all practical purposes.

Now don't think that everyone is loading their guns for the two big states only. Bill and Hillary Clinton will both make stops here before Tuesday and a massive Trump rally was held in St. Louis on Friday.

But with over 20 states having already voted and with the two big states on the line Tuesday, it's easy to understand why we are the red-headed stepchild of the primary.

Trying to bone-up on the upcoming primary, I see where Bernie Sanders is finding great support in Boone County, home to the University of Missouri. No surprise there.

And though it may just be campaign rhetoric, the Rubio and Cruz camps are both optimistic on Tuesday's outcome.

This much I can predict: Turnout in Missouri will not mirror the massive turnouts in some of the earlier states. Only within the past two weeks have candidates started to spend advertising dollars in Missouri.

If you listen to some of the political pundits, it might make you much less interested in voting on Tuesday.

Missouri has never been in the crosshairs of the candidates' targets this year because, quite frankly, there are much bigger prizes elsewhere.However, come November, much of this political focus could well fall on Missouri.

Look at Missouri's history in political elections. More often than not, we get it right. Granted, there are exceptions. But generally speaking, the Show Me State has an excellent track record of picking the winner on election day.

The prospects are - according to some polling - that this year's Presidential election may be a barn burner and, when that's the case, states like Missouri are extremely important.

You would logically think that the emphasis come November would be on the large states with huge voting blocs.

But California, for example, is not fertile ground for the GOP and Texas, again for example, is traditionally not prime territory for the Dems. So that puts Missouri and other swing states in a more powerful position.

We'll know the outcome on Tuesday.