Getting the word out in the weeks before the Republican primary is the name of the game for candidates running for Gwinnett's county commission.

Folks working on behalf of incumbent Chairman Charles Bannister are using a multi-media blitz, said campaign manager Jeremy Brand, including direct mailers, TV ads and billboards.

"I have actually found that it's the combination of all of it that really works," Brand said. "The more stuff people see from you, the better."

Buford challenger Glenn Pirkle said his campaign is focusing on personal appearances and yard signs.

Why the low-key approach?

A tight economy, he said, and a desire to stay debt-free.

Whatever the method, the goal is the same: getting your face, and stance on the issues, out in front of as many voters as possible before the July 15 primary.

Political strategist Mark Rountree works with three of the eight candidates: Commissioner Lorraine Green, who's challenging Bannister for chairman; incumbent Commissioner Mike Beaudreau, being challenged by Lilburn City Planner Doug Stacks for his District 3 seat, and Carol Hassell, who's in a three-way race for Green's old District 1 spot.

Each candidate has a slightly different approach.

Green's "heavily using the Internet," he said, for ads and e-mails, as well as TV ads, mailers and signs.

Beaudreau favors a grassroots approach, Rountree said, heavy on face-to-face contact: "He represents a third of the county and goes door-to-door day-to-night."

Hassell said her intention is to get her name out "as quickly and thoroughly in District 1 as I can" through candidate forums, billboards, yard signs and mailers.

"The idea is to introduce my name," said the former Suwanee city councilwoman. "The idea is repetition. That's what it's all about, after all."

Former Duluth Mayor Shirley Lasseter said she's using yard signs more than other candidates, and she figures she has about 1,000 planted in various yards.

"I think that's a commitment," Lasseter said. "I think it's a vote, and I think it's an opportunity to talk to people as you're putting signs out."

Rountree said he considers people who vote in July "a cut above" in terms of community activities. They care about the details and keep up with issues. With them, he said, direct mailings are successful, since they can be "micro-targeted" by demographic group or topic.

The subject of illegal immigration has sparked something of a mailer war between Hassell and Lasseter.

Their competition — Duluth businessman Bruce LeVell — has stayed out of the fray. Campaign manager Chris Boedeker says LeVell is keeping his mailers "really positive," focusing on transportation, public safety and revitalization — and doing most of his campaigning door-to-door. He's also a believer in "bringing everyone to the table" and has translated one of his mailers into Korean.

Since Lasseter proposed building a federal detention facility in Atlanta, which Hassell countered was "a terrible idea," their disagreement has grown even more heated in recent mailers.

Hassell's flier said she wouldn't "create sanctuary zones for illegal immigrants ... like Shirley Lasseter did" as mayor of Duluth, and touts her experience on the Suwanee City Council.

Lasseter fired back with a four-page flier saying Hassell "proudly voted for Barack Obama for President" and asks, "whom do you trust on illegal immigration: conservatives like anti-illegal immigration groups and Shirley Lasseter, or liberals like the ACLU and Carol Hassell?"

In attempting to clarify their records:

• Hassell said she was one of many Republicans who cast a vote "against Hillary Clinton" in the Democratic primary.

"I am assuming that she felt it necessary to find something to do a mailing on," Hassell said, "and the only thing she's got to do a mailing on are fake issues like this."

• Lasseter said Duluth added order to the chaos of day laborers wanting work, contractors wanting workers and citizens wanting peace restored — and drew praise from around the country.

"This flier is not something I wanted to put out," Lasseter said. "I hassled with people in my camp about it for days. It's not like me. I don't like playing dirty politics — I don't like playing politics period. I don't know why we can't stay focused on the issues."

Doug Stacks didn't respond to several requests for comment for this story.