Old Fashioned Campaigning | Video

Jessica Roose | 10/29/2012

If you`ve been watching any TV lately, then you`ve probably seen your fair share of campaign ads, many from the U.S. Senate campaign, which leaves little airtime left for some of the state races. So some candidates, like the ones for Superintendent of Public Instruction are using other methods to reach out to voters.

His last race was for U.S. Senate in 2010, now Tracy Potter is running to become the Superintendent of the Department Public Instruction. There`s a big difference in how he`s campaigning this time around.

"Well you know this is a funny campaign. It`s a low budget campaign, and that`s good, because you don`t want to have to borrow and spend a bunch of money," he said.

So he gets his message out the old fashioned way. In addition to handing out flyers and talking to voters about where he stands on educational issues he`s utilizing social media like Facebook and speaking at educational forums.

"You have to be resilient, know that your not going to get that kind of high profile attention and when you get your 30-seconds, you better make some sense," he said.

With just about a week left before the big day, his opponent, Kirsten Baesler, is just as busy. Unlike Potter, this is Baesler`s first time running for a statewide office and she enjoys talking and meeting with potential voters. Along with working the phones, she pounds the pavement distributing flyers.

"I`m very comfortable with it. That`s the way I enjoy meeting people. Having them share their concerns, their ideas about education and so it`s been a very enjoyable experience for me," she said.

She plans to continue door to door campaigning but not until the very end.

"The night before the election, the final night of campaigning, I will be at a school board meeting. I won`t be out campaigning, I will be at the school board meeting and I believe that`s very important to me," she said.

Both candidates will spend election night hoping their message reached the majority of voters.

Both Potter and Baesler live in the Bismarck area, so they`ve been putting a lot of miles on their cars to campaign in person in cities and towns throughout the state.

We`ll have up-to-date coverage as results come in on this and other races starting at 7:00 on election night.

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