<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/election.gif " Border=0> 12:38 p.m. Across the nation, an unprecedented day of coast-to-coast primaries and caucuses

February 05, 2008 01:37 pm

— Gina Nunez has never missed an election, primary or general, and found herself in the fellowship hall of a Methodist church in Phoenix on Tuesday to vote before anyone else in her precinct. Before the sun came up, for that matter.
She is 43 years old and knows the routine. Still, she said she could not wait to vote this time. This time, she said, it felt somehow different, more exhilarating.
“It just feels like something new’s going to happen, something different’s going to happen with whoever we get,” said Nunez, an elementary school curriculum coordinator who voted for Sen. Barack Obama in the Arizona Democratic primary.

And in Meridian, Okla., dozens of voters drove down a red clay road in a light rain to the LeGrande family farm, where five voting booths were set up on an enclosed porch.
“I don’t have any griping rights if I don’t vote,” Carol Stephens said there.
With the race essentially down to two leaders in both the Republican and Democratic parties, voters also expressed wonder at the novelty of the field of candidates still standing.

The Super Tuesday slate included primaries and caucuses in 21 states for the Republicans and 22 states for the Democrats.