Fringe candidates fight for recognition in Windsor-Tecumseh

For those not with the mainstream parties but running for the vacant Windsor-Tecumseh seat, the byelection campaign trail may not come with many supporters.

"Being an up and comer you have to fight to establish your brand," said Libertarian candidate Dan Dominato.

His stance is less government regulation on services. His goal this time out is to simply double the 500 votes he got in the 2011 general election.

"I did get a lot of people saying, 'I didn't now there was a Libertarian running in my riding. i want to know more.'

"And that kind of became the stepping stone for 2013."

While the polls and political experts predict this may end up being a landslide victory for the NDP, the fringe candidates say that may be why voters should take a second look at who they check off on their ballot.

Those candidates include Lee Watson, running for the Family Coalition Party. She's busy campaigning for the first time.

"It comes down to the fiscal and socially conservative values," Watson said. "Hopefully this will be a platform in which to have people to say, 'hey, we are looking for change, we want a fresh face. How can we get involved how can we learn more?'"

Andrew Brannon, who lives in Burlington, is with the Freedom Party.

"Fiscal collapse will hurt everyone, most notably the poor and all the people dependent on unsustainable models of government financing and regulatory control, from the green energy sector, to the nursing home sector," he said in an email to CBC Windsor.

Though the candidates acknowledge they may not be at Queen's Park after Aug. 1, they hope every vote they do get will be a step in what they consider the right political direction.