With a little more than a month to go before the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, recent polls show the three candidates vying for a chance to face Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in the general election aren't well known, especially upstate.
One of those candidates is trying to change that.
Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos is well known on Long Island; Congressman Bob Turner has a natural base in New York City; that leaves attorney Wendy Long with the rest of the state.
Long is spending today in Central New York trying to shore up GOP support before the June 26 primary.
"The only voters who need to know us now are the republican primary voters, so it's not a big issue of concern that I'm not known to the general population right now,” Long said.
Long says she’s taking things one step at a time.
“Since I was a political unknown, the first step is to get acquainted with the people who will be voting in the primary, and that's what we are doing now," Long said.
Long says she's connected with voters in upstate New York during several swings across the state.
The former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has already won endorsements from several GOP county committees including Erie, Monroe and Onondgaga counties.
A Siena College poll earlier this month shows 67 percent of Republicans are undecided about the race.
