During one last, hot weekend of campaigning before Tuesday's mayoral primary, Charlie Luken and Courtis Fuller focused not on trying to win votes, but getting the voters they've already won to the polls.

VOTE TUESDAY

Cincinnati's nonpartisan mayoral primary will be held Tuesday. The polls will be open 6:30 am. to 7:30 p.m. All registered voters in the city are eligible to vote.   This primary does not require voters to declare a party to vote. Voters will get a ballot with the names of the four candidates from which to choose.   A voter may only pick one candidate.   The two with the most votes will be the mayoral candidates appearing on the Nov. 6 ballot.

        “We have an election, believe it or not, on Tuesday,” Mr. Luken told an Eden Park crowd Sunday. “And it's an historic election.”

        Historic or not, turnout could be low.

        The pollsters and the pundits have already predicted that Mr. Luken and Mr. Fuller will run first and second — and probably in that order — in the first-ever nonpartisan mayoral primary.

        The primary will reduce the field of four candidates — which also includes independents Bill Brodberger and Michael Riley — to a one-on-one race in the Nov. 6 general election.

        Or, as Mr. Brodberger put it last week, two of the candidates will be “voted off the island.”

        But in addition to narrowing the field, it's also a critical test of each candidate's core support.

        A solid majority by Mr. Luken, the incumbent Democratic mayor and a proven vote-getter, could put the election away early.

        But a better-than expected showing by Mr. Fuller, the Charter Committee candidate who jumped in the race 10 weeks ago, could give him momentum that can help overcome a $200,000 deficit in fund-raising.

        Of course, either result is meaningless if few voters show up at the polls, the candidates said.

        “Sometimes it's hard to get people to vote the first Tuesday in November, much less the second Tuesday in September,” Mr. Luken said. “I think people have been focusing on the race — they just haven't been focusing on the date.”

        It was a busy weekend of campaigning for both candidates, with even more events scheduled for today.

        Mr. Luken played bingo in Over-the-Rhine. Mr. Fuller flipped burgers at a campaign rally in Bond Hill. Both stopped by the Hispanic Festival in Carthage and a voter registration drive in Eden Park held by the University of Cincinnati's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people.

        As he has throughout the campaign, Mr. Luken avoided the direct “vote-for-me” approach, instead asking people to just vote.

        “This is about offering yourself for election,” Mr. Luken said. “I've always felt that if people get out and vote, I can live with the result.”

        Don't tell Mr. Fuller that he's only supposed to place second in Tuesday's mayoral primary.

        “I hope to win. I hope to win big,” he said Sunday, making one final campaign blitz before what he's described as “the biggest day of my life.”

        Mr. Fuller said the candidates will have plenty of time in the next two months to win over swing voters — such as Republicans, who don't have a horse in the race.

        For now, the emphasis is sending a message on Tuesday.

        “I've been telling people to get out their telephone books and call all their friends, and tell then to vote, vote, vote,” Mr. Fuller said.

        Undecided voters will have one last opportunity to hear the candidates today at 5 p.m., when all four will debate on the Pat Barry Show on WKRC-AM (550).

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