GETTING VOTERS ON BOARD

Candidates crisscrossed county lines in organized, but frenzied, blitzes Monday, making one final impassioned outreach to voters before Election Day.

"I would say all of us are profoundly tired," said Democrat Michael P. Oot, a challenger for the 23rd Congressional District seat, as he rode from Watertown to Gouverneur on Monday afternoon. "It's a strange thing because as the next task comes up, we all inhale sharply and just go do it. People are wonderful. We'll sleep when we get the chance."

Mr. Oot, a Munnsville attorney who specializes in workers' compensation issues, said he's spent the last 32 years representing people who live in the north country or carry their values.

"I'm going to see the people I know," he said of his visit to Gouverneur. "It's important for me to get there."

U.S. Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, spent Monday in his home county, talking to business owners in Watertown before joining an in-progress bus tour with fellow Republican candidates David A. Renzi, Watertown, and Robert W. "Bobby" Cantwell III, Clayton.

"We fed off each other's energy," said Mr. Cantwell, running for the 118th Assembly District seat. "All these emotions are coming out. You're excited and drained at the same time. How the heck are you going at this point? I don't know how you do it, but you just find it."

Mr. Cantwell said the three received an "overwhelming response" from residents they met Monday.

"I guess that's where you get some of your energy from — the voters," said the Assembly candidate, adding that he's never operated with such little sleep.

Addie J. Russell, Mr. Cantwell's Democratic opponent, said she was also energized by the supporters she met during her tour of Canton and Potsdam on Monday morning. But she also was hoping to talk issues with an equally important group.

"There's still people that are really getting ready to make their decision, so I think it's worth being out and making this last push," she said on her way to Antwerp on Monday afternoon. Her tour also included stops in Philadelphia, Theresa, Pamelia and Watertown.

Mr. Renzi said he hoped his three-day "bus blitz," as he called it, allowed him a chance to convince voters he is suited to unseat state Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent.

"I have been telling the people of Jefferson, Oswego and St. Lawrence counties to vote for their future," said Mr. Renzi, Watertown, in a press release. "Let's change Albany, bring back our economy, better jobs and lower taxes, by changing the people we send there."

Mr. Aubertine visited all three of the counties he represents Monday. He threw a free breakfast for about 100 senior citizens in Watertown on Monday morning, then stopped throughout Oswego County in the early afternoon, before heading to St. Lawrence County in the evening.

"Everywhere I go the response is tremendous, whether it was at the breakfast this morning or the restaurants, shops and homes I've stopped at both today and over the last few months," said Mr. Aubertine in a press release. "The people understand that this election is about all of us and our issues, with improving our economic opportunity atop the list."