OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - As Oklahoma's lieutenant governor for the last four years, Jari Askins has been riding in parades, cutting ribbons and visiting festivals and fish fries from one corner of the state to the other.

Experts say that exposure, combined with an energized ground game, a flurry of last-minute automated telephone calls and face-to-face politicking in northeast Oklahoma, helped Jari Askins squeak out an upset victory in this week's Democratic primary for governor.

Askins edged longtime Attorney General Drew Edmondson by fewer than 1,500 votes - or less than six-tenths of 1 percent of the votes cast.

"All it took for this one was 1,500 people who decided to get their dry cleaning instead of going to vote," said Ben Odom, a Democratic strategist and former vice chair of the state party. "It took a perfect lineup of things going her way to happen, and she got it."

Askins will face Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin in the Nov. 2 general election, ensuring Oklahoma's first female governor will take office in January.

Askins spent the weekend before Tuesday's election visiting diners and retail shops in north Tulsa, where Democratic voters were excited about competitive primaries for county commissioner and state representative.

"That vote wasn't necessarily generated by me, but I do think I was a beneficiary of that turnout," Askins said. "I worked hard in the north part of Tulsa. I considered that an area that I could do well in."

Askins also cited a last-minute endorsement from former University of Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer and a media blitz that included traditional print, radio and television, along with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

"We tried to make sure that we were giving people all forms of communication to have a chance to get to know who we are," she said.

Despite some polls that showed Edmondson with a double-digit lead a week before Tuesday's election, Askins had the momentum heading into the final few days of the primary campaign, said longtime GOP strategist Neva Hill.

"There are always surprises, and the campaigns that are the most aggressive with the get-out-the-vote effort and never give up until the last minute are the campaigns that win," Hill said.

As expected, Edmondson performed well in northeast Oklahoma, where he served three terms as a district attorney in Muskogee County. But Askins won three Arkansas border counties - Adair, Delaware and McCurtain - and defeated Edmondson in Democratic strongholds in southeast Oklahoma.

Edmondson won Tulsa County and beat Askins by nearly 7 points in the state's 10 largest counties, but Askins scored victories in two-thirds of the state's 77 counties - almost all of them in western Oklahoma.

She outperformed Edmondson nearly 5 to 1 in her home county - Stephens County - and the 3,200-vote margin there was enough to make the difference in the race. Edmondson, meanwhile didn't even double Askins' vote total in his home county.

Pat McFerron, a GOP pollster and strategist, also cited a lower-than-expected voter turnout in Tulsa County, where Edmondson was counting on a decisive win.

McFerron also pointed to radio ads with the Switzer endorsement as a last-minute shot in the arm to the Askins campaign. Switzer is a state icon who also backed current Gov. Brad Henry in 2002.

"I think what it did was it made some of Jari's people believe she had a chance to win," McFerron said. "It ended up being an incredible fourth-quarter rally speech.

"The team still had to go out and execute, but it had to give them momentum," McFerron said.