Waddington still leads the Ultimate Fishing Town online contest with 10,649 votes, but a campaign by Ogdensburg's recreation director to vote for other people hopes to put the city in the running.

Roscoe, N.Y. is close behind Waddington with 10,183 votes. Ogdensburg is third in the Northeast with 691 votes.

In a message to the Ogdensburg Chamber of Commerce, which has since been forwarded around the North Country, the city's Recreation Director Matt Curatolo is offering to enter people's online votes for Ogdensburg for them.

"If you have already voted and registered and are unable to vote in each block and would be willing to have Matt Curatolo, city recreation director, enter you in each block for voting, please send him your e-mail address and name, he will be happy to make sure your vote counts in each voting block!"

Many people in Waddington were particularly unhappy about Ogdensburg's entry, which pitted itself against Waddington. The consternation expressed by the Waddington Chamber of Commerce was over what they hoped would have been a regional effort at promoting St. Lawrence County as the "Fishing Capital of the World," as envisioned by the county Chamber of Commerce.

The top prize in the online contest by WorldFishingNetwork.com is $25,000.

Voting in the first round ends May 3. Then the first two towns in each region, plus six other towns determined to be worthy to continue by the contest organizers, are up for another round of voting that starts May 10.

The winner will be announced no later than June 6.