The two-term incumbent has raised less than $4,000 for her re-election bid - a campaign cache dwarfed by opponent Luke Garrott, a political science professor at the University of Utah, who reports raising three times that much.

"I don't like asking people for money," Saxton said. "I never have."

Saxton must guard her District 4 seat from four challengers - Garrott, Brian Doughty, Carol Goode and Jack Gray - who are approaching Tuesday's primary with disparate visions for their neighborhoods.

Saxton's sluggish fundraising is a carryover from the mayoral chase in which she amassed $65,000. Her chief rivals raised considerably more.

While Saxton suffered personal financial troubles as recently as last year - the councilwoman had to sell property after defaulting on payments - she says her low-dollar drive for a third council term is a matter of principle.

Saxton described herself as an advocate of campaign-spending limits and said that, as an incumbent, she should set the example. She intends to raise no more than $15,000 to retain her east-central council seat.

Instead, the councilwoman said she will throw hard work, rather than money, at her candidacy.

Financially, Garrott leads the pack with $12,300 in campaign donations, according to the latest disclosures. The U. professor pledged to bring more public involvement to City Hall, saying a good government is a "robustly democratic government."

So while he dislikes the expansive Whole Foods building proposed at Trolley Square, Garrott said he wouldn't change a thing because the process was "fair." That needs to happen more often, he said.

Garrott vowed to push for development that balances the complexion of city neighborhoods with the needs of new construction. That means keeping projects "in-scale and in-character" with surrounding homes and businesses.

He pointed specifically to the redevelopment of Sugar House's Granite block - which would include a mixture of stores and high-rise condos and offices - as the type of project the city should guard against.

"Good intentions are not enough," he said. "We need to have the foresight to see what the consequences might be."

Doughty's vision includes the expansion of the city's historic districts. But he also speaks of loosening the liquor laws to allow for a sizzling restaurant sector.

Downtown also needs more affordable housing for middle-class workers, he said. Prices have climbed dangerously high for maintaining a diverse population in Utah's capital.

Soon, the city will have to import its teachers, police officers and firefighters from suburbia, he said.

"The prices have gone up so much," Doughty said, "that we have priced out the moderate-income level."

A final cornerstone of Doughty's campaign is his advocacy of gay and lesbian rights. Doughty, who is gay, has championed homosexual rights at the Legislature, opposing bills such as a proposed ban on gay-straight alliances at Utah high schools.

For Gray, the crusade is against undocumented workers, who he says are undercutting the U.S. work force with low-priced labor.

Gray favors fines on employers who rely on undocumented immigrant laborers and deportation of those who enter the country illegally.

"It is about time that illegal workers started going back home," he wrote to Julie Myers, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

While Gray described immigration reform as his chief objective, he also pledged to push for improvements to the electrical grid and air quality.

With power outages fresh on residents' minds after a torrent of damaging storms, Saxton, too, said the city must encourage power-system improvements.

She plans to seek underground utility lines.

But her foremost priority is seniors - a population that has, she said, too little a voice in city politics.

"We have a very heavy tax load for people on fixed incomes," Saxton said. "There is absolutely no relief. We are not only driving people out of the city, but out of their homes."

Saxton said she would seek financial assistance for seniors and act aggressively to involve them in government.

The councilwoman - who protested the Utah Transit Authority's plans to cut bus routes downtown - said she will lobby for lower-priced bus fares and expanded city routes.

Saxton said mass transit is a must for getting people out of their cars and into downtown.

"Buses are the workhorses of our transportation line," she said.

As a black woman, Goode described herself as a prime candidate for promoting diversity in the capital - and on the council.

Goode said she would lobby for affordable housing and expanded after-school programs. She also hopes to create a closer relationship between police and the public.

"I don't think there is enough community policing going on," she said. "Let's get out and do things in the community, so [people] know we are here for you, not just in a crisis."

jstettler@sltrib.com

The candidates

Brian Doughty

* Age: 36

* Family: Single

* Education: Graduated from Texas' South Grand Prairie High, 1989; earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Texas Tech University, 1993

* Career: Territory manager for Welch Equipment

* Civic service: Board member for Equality Utah, 2006-07

* Fun fact: Co-owned a wine, beer and tapas bar in Denver called Wine Down Lounge

Carol Goode

* Age: 43

* Family: Daughter, 19

* Education: Graduated from South High, 1982; earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Utah, 1995

* Career: Employed by the Utah Department of Workforce Services

* Civic service: Chairwoman of the East Central Community Council, 2003; former member of Salt Lake City's Transportation Advisory Board

* Fun fact: Pursing a master's degree in public administration, which means little recreational reading aside from a constitutional-law text

Luke Garrott

* Age: 39

* Family: Wife, Jennifer; cats, Skreddy and Reggie

* Education: Graduated from Illinois' Glenbrook High, 1985; earned a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies from Stanford University, 1989; received master's and doctorate degrees in political science from the University of Florida, 1994 and 2001, respectively

* Career: Political science professor at the University of Utah

* Civic service: Board member for the Central City Neighborhood Council, 2006-present; instructor for the Westside Leadership Institute, 2004-present; head coach for West High soccer, 2002-04; member of the Salt Lake City Community Council Recognition Ordinance Committee, 2005-present; and teaches the service-learning program Neighborhood Democracy.

* Fun fact: Attended college on a soccer scholarship.

Jack Gray

* Age: 47

* Family: Single

* Education: Graduated from Granger High, 1977; earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah, 1983

* Career: Line worker for a detergent company

* Civic service: Former member of the Political Science Student Advisory Committee at the Univer sity of Utah; and campaign volunteer

* Fun fact: Ran the St. George marathon in 1988

Nancy Saxton

* Age: 54

* Family: Husband, Jan Bartlett

* Education: Graduated from California's Livermore High, 1971; attended Valley Memorial School for Inhalation Therapy, University of Utah and Weber State University to be licensed as a respiratory therapist

* Career: Former owner of a bed and breakfast

* Civic service: Salt Lake City Council member, 2000-present; chairwoman and vice chairwoman for the East Central Community Council; recipient of Salt Lake City's Good Neighbor Award; chairwoman and vice chairwoman of the Community Development Advisory Committee; chairwoman and president of Bed and Breakfast Inns of Utah; guest speaker for the Professional Association of Innkeepers International; instructor at the University of Utah for people interested in starting a bed and breakfast

* Fun fact: Respiratory therapist for Barney Clark, first artificial-heart recipient