That's the question on the minds of many political watchers as the slate of presidential primaries set for Tuesday draws near.

According to Connie Crafton, chair of Bedford County Democratic Party, the political scene in Tennessee and the county has been quiet. She has attended several events where representatives of the two frontrunners of her party were pushing their candidates.

With the departure of John Edwards from the Democratic presidential field, it comes down to Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama, who have been busy trading barbs on the campaign trail.

"Everyone seems pretty excited about the primaries," Crafton said. As the chair of the county party, Crafton said she has to be neutral until the convention, but said after Tuesday, voters may know who is the likely nominee for the party.

Deborah Bailey, chair of Bedford County Republican Party, said that the party is very excited about the primary and pleased that there are four viable candidates on the ballot: John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul.

"I'm not even going to begin to speculate who's going to win this one in Tennessee," she said. "We're just pleased that we have some choices to make."

Some Tennessee GOP members may vote for former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, who will still be on the ballot even though he has announced his withdrawal from the race. Bailey said she has heard that there were some voters who are planning to do just that.

While Bailey lived in California when Thompson was representing Tennessee, she said that many people in the state were very excited when he entered the race. She added that there has been an equal amount of disappointment about his dropping out of the campaign last week.

Crafton said that the sniping back and forth between Clinton and Obama may turn voters off, and they should talk about the issues facing voters this year.

"We need to get the country turned around and get things on the right track and them bringing things out against each other, I don't think is helping things. Tell what you are for and don't drag up the past."

Bailey said that she has heard concerns from some area conservatives about the possibility of McCain winning the nomination, due to some of his stances on issues like immigration. But she added that she's also heard concerns about the other candidates as well.

"We're just all excited to see what will happen on Tuesday," she said. She also has the hope that whoever is eventually nominated will be a strong enough candidate to defeat the Democratic front-runner.

Bailey said that both McCain and Romney have a lot to offer in that competition, as well as Huckabee "and perhaps even Ron Paul."

"It's going to be a race. It's truly going to be a race," she said. She even speculated that the November election may be as close as the last two presidential races.

Crafton thinks that either one of the Democrats' chances against McCain in the November election will be good. "I think he [McCain] will be the nominee ... and going into the [Democratic] convention," Crafton thinks that it could be down to the wire on who will be the democratic pick.

"The economy is a big issue," Crafton said. "As a school teacher, education is a big issue that I look at. Health care, the war in Iraq, those are some big issues that the people need to look at."

"I think people are going to be crossing party lines from the Democrats to the Republicans depending on who the candidates turn out to be," Bailey said. "People who are not interested in either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will take a really close look at our Republican candidates."

The county GOP has also launched a new website: bedfordtngop.com .