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The scramble is on in District 29, where seven Democrats are running for state representative.

With the race likely to be decided by as few as 8,000 voters, and the end of the primary season near, every vote is precious.

So the candidates have kicked their campaigns into high gear, hoping to court the last few undecided voters in the district, which stretches from Downtown to the far Southeast Side and covers much of the city's South Side.

Trying to cast a wide net to reach as many undecided voters as possible, ecologist Daniel Patterson has been hitting the airwaves with TV commercials. Meanwhile, incumbent Tom Prezelski, who only recently received his Clean Elections funding, has been relying on a phone bank to reach likely voters.

Other hopefuls, including Ephraim Cruz and Matt Heinz, have taken more traditional campaign routes, knocking on doors and relying on signs and mailers to get their names out.

Signs for candidates Patti Puig and Eric Carbajal Bustamante have appeared in the district. Gil Guerra, who did not qualify for Clean Elections funding, has said he is regularly pounding the pavement to drum up support.

"I am working hard to get the message out," said Puig, who also missed out on Clean Elections support. "I wish I could sleep less hours. I could sure use every minute of the day. I am still walking. My dad has been helping me, doing some phone calls."

For those new to the field, it probably will take a sustained effort to get the name recognition needed to win, one expert on politics said.

"You are certainly advantaged going into the race if you are already active in a public sphere," said Fred Solop, chair of the department of politics and international affairs at Northern Arizona University. "If people start to see multiple messages from you, then a candidate's reputation can lodge in the minds of the voters."

Patterson, in particular, has served up his message in a variety of ways. He is on the Internet in the form of a blog, a campaign Web site and a MySpace page. He has knocked on doors, and used signs and mailers. And he's hitting the airwaves through radio and TV.

"We have got a very aggressive campaign that is going directly to the voters every single day knocking on doors," Patterson said.

To save money for the TV ads, which are in Spanish and English, Patterson said he didn't go for color mailers and printed up some very basic signs.

"We made some decisions early on. We decided to go with a black-and-white mailer," Patterson said. "It's printed on fairly basic recycled paper. We didn't blow a bunch of money on giant, superthick, full-color postcards. I really think a lot of voters don't mind getting your information in black and white."

Prezelski, the incumbent, said he has seen Patterson's TV spots, but he said he thought the cost far outweighs the potential benefit, because most people who see the commercials don't live in the district.

"In Tucson, most of the people you are reaching are people who can't vote for you," Prezelski said.

So Prezelski has gone in the opposite direction, using a telephone bank to specifically target voters, relying on name recognition and walking through the precincts.

He does not have a campaign Web site.

"I don't think it's that effective ... especially in this district, where most voters aren't going to the Internet or at least personal Web sites for information," he said.

In the Internet age, that's a bold move. Not only does Patterson have a Web presence, but so do Cruz, Heinz and Carbajal Bustamante. Cruz and Heinz, who have been working the district hard, also are on popular social-networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The two winners of the primary will face Republicans Juan Ciscomani and Pat Kilburn in November.

Election