OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - After the unexpected drama of the Washington caucuses, the state presidential primary on Tuesday almost seems like a tame afterthought.

Democrats are calling it a meaningless "$10 million beauty contest" and aren't awarding a single delegate from the results. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, after giving heavy attention to the recent caucuses, are staying away. Even the Republican hopefuls, after their cat-fight here last weekend, aren't showing much interest.

The primary is barely a blip on the national election calendar, not even mentioned in most national news coverage, as no Democratic delegates are at stake and John McCain has virtually wrapped up the Republican nomination.

Secretary of State Sam Reed, the leading cheerleader for the primary, even felt compelled to send state and national media an e-mail with the subject line "It's not over in Washington." Republican Reed and Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire sent out a joint letter pleading with candidates to campaign here for both the caucuses and primaries - to no avail.

But Reed and county election officials still expect turnout to far surpass the amped-up hordes who attended the caucuses last Saturday.

Reed predicts a record 47 percent primary turnout, about 1.5 million voters, or about five times the caucus numbers. Reed cites the convenience of voting by mail and the primary's appeal to casual voters who'll take a few minutes to privately mark a ballot, but don't cotton to a two-hour neighborhood caucus.

Primary ballots have been in most voters' hands for about two weeks and must be postmarked by Tuesday night. Monday is a federal holiday and no home mail service is provided. King and Pierce counties still have actual polling places as well.

The caucuses, for all their sizzle, drew far fewer voters than the primary will. Democrat reported about 250,000 for their Obama-Clinton showdown; Republicans had perhaps 60,000 caucus-goers.

So why bother?

Besides bragging rights for both GOP and Democratic winners, the Republicans also offer a tangible prize of 19 national convention delegates. The other half of the party's delegates will be allocated according to the caucus results.

Clinton, who is struggling nationally, and John McCain, the Republican front-runner, hope to improve on their limp caucus showing here.

Clinton was swamped by better than 2-1 in the caucuses. Women's groups and other Clinton backers, although not her official campaign, have quietly promoted the New York senator in recent days, hoping for a better showing.

Obama, the runaway winner of the caucuses and a long string of victories since he and Clinton split the Super Tuesday states, concentrated on Wisconsin this past week. Clinton is looking ahead to Ohio and Texas.

The Associated Press delegate count has Obama at 1,276 and Clinton at 1,220, with deparated candidate John Edwards at 26. Required to nominate 2,025.

State Democratic Chairman Dwight Pelz said the primary isn't even good for bragging rights, and that candidates would be foolish to waste time or resources here.

Republican Chairman Luke Esser, still smarting from getting tangled in a vote-counting controversy for the party-run caucuses, seems happy to turn the page and promote the state-run primary.

"Our message to voters is `You're not done yet. This is a two-step process and you get to vote in both types of elections," he said. "The Democrats may ignore the votes, but we're not."

McCain, who swept the Potomac Primary in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., this week, barely eked out a victory in Washington's caucus, edging Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul. Even the recently departed Mitt Romney finished strong.

The evening before the caucuses, McCain told Washington reporters he expected a weak caucus showing, but much greater strength in the primary. He noted that Huckabee is strong with social and religious conservatives and that Paul and Romney had poured money into the state.

With a primary that allows him to draw from a broader pool of centrist voters, he expects an impressive showing - and more delegates to put him closer to the finish line. An AP delegate count puts McCain at 851, to Romney's 277 and Huckabee's 242. Romney has withdrawn and is endorsing McCain, but Huckabee and Paul still are in the race. Needed to nominate: 1,191.

McCain had planned to return before the primary, but his state organizers said Thursday that won't happen. Neither Huckabee nor Paul announced plans for a visit.

McCain narrowly carried the caucuses, with about 25 percent of the delegates, just ahead of Huckabee's 24 percent and Paul's 21 percent. Huckabee's camp pitched a fit when Esser declared McCain the state winner before all precincts reported. Later tallies sustained Esser, and Huckabee's campaign hasn't shown much interest in the primary rematch.

Political scientist Todd Donovan said the state's unique dual system is goofy.

"Primaries are great if they're real primaries," he said. "Most of us aren't party activists and we like a primary. But doing both is just nonsensical. One dilutes the other. Republicans try to split and different and Democrats thumb their noses at voters who don't have the incentive to come out to the caucuses."