Israelis go to the polls today for National Election. 

With votes split between Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party and the centrist Kadima Party, led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Ms. Livni isn’t taking any votes for granted. Nor is she limited by her centrist politics, as left-leaning Israelis turn to her to stop Netanyahu. "People on the left, such as former Meretz party leader Yossi Beilin, say the left has attached itself to Ms. Livni in this campaign as the only hope to stop the election of Mr. Netanyahu and a government of the right," says Canada’s Globe and Mail.

The leading candidates made last-minute appeals to the public this morning, telling them that every vote — literally — will count. Livni — who, if she wins, will be the first female prime minister since Golda Meir in the early 1970s — has been wooing female swing voters in hopes they can make a difference. Reuters says the 50-year-old ex-Mossad agent "had avoided playing the ‘gender card’ for fear of appearing weak in a male-dominated society where frequent wars with Arab neighbors tend to make generals and other military figures more popular as politicians. But after failing to win enough of a boost from a 22-day offensive in Gaza that was widely popular in Israel, Livni has added feminist-tinged rhetoric to her repertoire, mixing calls to smash Hamas militants with complaints of male chauvinism."

Livni also isn’t taking much criticism from her opponents who say she’s not qualified. To that end, some of her supporters say President Obama has taken the same criticism. That’s what qualified advisers are for — to get leaders up to speed on issues.

"It is sexist to say Livni lacks experience. Here the (male) generals think they are God," Shulamit Aloni, a retired lawmaker, told Reuters of Livni, who was Israel’s chief negotiator with the Palestinians and a senior cabinet minister during two wars. "Has she not gained the experience of deciding to order whether someone should get killed?"