This is the battleground where Stephen Blais will fight for election in the next 60 days: Cumberland Ward in the east end.
Blais is taking on incumbent Rob Jellett. It's not easy to unseat a sitting member. Blais started early -- in January.
"I've been knocking on doors since the ninth of January," Blais says.
"I've already taken over 750,000 steps going door-to-door in the neighbourhoods in Cumberland Ward, and I'm excited to start going full-time."
First Watson lawn signs go up
City council candidates have small budgets. Supporters' houses, even a Tim Horton's usually fill the place of a campaign headquarters.
The race for mayor takes it up a notch. Candidate Jim Watson was on hand as the first of his crop of lawn signs went into the ground.
Watson is the only high-profille candidate for mayor using them, and his first went in the lawn of campaign co-chair Mary Pitt. He said he hopes this brings him luck -- he's placed his first sign here in other contests, and gone on to win.
Longest-serving councillor goes to six elections
"I think this is six," says Coun. Diane Deans of the number of elections she's run in.
Deans is one of the longest-serving council members. She was elected first in 1994.
This campaign will be different: much more use of social media like Twitter and Facebook.
But however it's done, she says campaigning never loses its savour.
"I don't assume for a minute that I'm going to win," she says. "I come out of the starting gate strong ,and I work as hard as I can every day until the last ballot is cast."
Dozens in the race for mayor, council seats
As of today, 14 people are in the race for mayor of Ottawa, and 94 people are after 23 Council seats. At least five of them will be new faces, replacing those who've retired.
And there's time, if you want, to join the race.
Nominations for the civic election don't close until September 10. The election itself is on October 25.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Norman Fetterley
