Ohio looks for exciting pivotal primary

CLEVELAND, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- Ohio, before this year, had not been the stage for a decisive presidential primary since its first nominating contest in 1912, a report said Friday.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported that not since Democrats narrowly rejected Woodrow Wilson and Republicans abandoned William Howard Taft in 1912 has the Buckeye State seen a primary contest as exciting as the race this year between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Ohio will hold its primary Tuesday, along with Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island.

"Ohio has rarely been pivotal" in primary races, John Green, director of the University of Akron's Bliss Institute for Applied Politics, was quoted as saying.

Ohio over time has moved its primary earlier trying to give Ohio voters more influence in determining who will be at the tops of the party tickets.

All the while, other states have leapfrogged ahead of Ohio and staged their primaries even earlier. This year was no different, the newspaper reported.

"Every time we tried to catch a wave," said Cleveland-based political consultant Mary Ann Sharkey, "we missed it."