He may be running unopposed in the 3rd Congressional District's Democratic primary, but Bill Durston still wants to turn out the vote on June 3. The Durston campaign asked supporters to consider phone banking for the Democrats' challenge to Republican Dan Lungren.

"Even though Bill is running unopposed as the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District, we want Democratic voters to know that he doesn't take their votes for granted, and we want to encourage ‘decline to state' voters to vote Democratic," read an e-mail to supporters. "A strong showing in the primary will help prove just how viable our campaign is and will help build momentum toward a victory in November."

The get-out-the-vote drive is intended for several audiences. One is the voters, as the campaign sees the phone banking as a chance to introduce its candidate.

"We need to get as many people out to vote for him in the primaries as we can," Marilyn Sabin, the campaign's chief of staff, said Tuesday.

To keep people interested and on the phone, the campaign is inviting everyone it calls to a June 3 post-primary party in Folsom. "Phone banking is kind of difficult," Sabin said, adding that it gets much easier when there's a party invitation at the end of it.

The second audience is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Sabin said, which has given little notice or funding to Durston's second run for the 3rd District seat.

The final audience is his opponent in the general election, Lungren.

The hope is that a strong Democratic turnout in an uncontested primary will get Lungren to take notice. "We need to keep the pressure on," Sabin said.

Durston has reached out personally to Lungren's staff to schedule debates, the campaign said, but has received no response.

Sabin said she doesn't expect Durston to agree to anything until after the primary is over. The Lungren campaign has not responded to request for comments from PolitickerCA.com.