By JOHN FLESHER, Associated Press Writer

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The candidates for state representative in Michigan's 105th District are doing what politicians normally do the weekend before a primary election: knocking on doors, attending parades, making get-out-the-vote calls.

AP Photo

But the presence of John Ramsey, father of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, makes this race in rural northern Michigan anything but ordinary.

"It's got all the dynamics of many similar races around the state �?except for John Ramsey," said Bill Ballenger, editor of the Lansing newsletter Inside Michigan Politics.

Ramsey is among six candidates for the Republican nomination, but the others haven't been featured on CNN's "Larry King Live" or profiled in People magazine. Poll results this week indicated an astounding 95 percent of likely GOP voters in the district recognized his name.

"That bit about equal time for the candidates is a farce," complained Jeff Garfield, an Otsego County commissioner and one of Ramsey's rivals.

For his part, Ramsey says he hasn't sought national media attention and has rejected most interview requests from outside the district. Instead, he has focused on grassroots organizing, fund-raising and local issues such as economic growth.

"Certainly we'd be disappointed if we didn't win, but I'd also be a bit surprised," Ramsey said Friday. "If we get our people out to vote, I think we'll be fine."

The poll by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA taken July 22 through Monday indicated the race was a statistical dead heat between Ramsey and three others.

It suggested Ramsey's high name recognition was not completely beneficial: Nearly four in 10 people surveyed had a negative impression of him, while about three in 10 had a positive view.

Ramsey campaign manager John Yob said that is a good showing in view of his candidate's past.

Six-year-old JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the family's home in Boulder, Colo., in 1996.

Boulder police said early on that John Ramsey and his wife, Patsy, were under an "umbrella of suspicion," while the Ramseys insisted an intruder was responsible. The Boulder district attorney took control of the investigation last year and agreed with a federal judge that the "weight of the evidence" was more consistent with the intruder theory.

Ramsey, his wife and son became permanent residents of Charlevoix last fall after having a summer home there since the early 1990s.

Despite what Ramsey acknowledges is lingering suspicion about the JonBenet case, his opponents say his biggest problem is a perception that he is a carpetbagger.