Interestingly, this puts my friend's efforts into perspective. Without hiring anyone, Devin Cohen collected 5000 signatures for his judicial race, with the help of four local Democratic clubs. He also only needed 1000. A lot of those signatures involved significant face time with voters either by Devin or people who know him personally. So, while Dahroug and Foley debate about whether the small number of face-to-face signatures or the large number of bought signatures is more significant, Devin beats them both put together while spending almost no money.

Does this make Devin the king of the grassroots approach?

I will add that number of signatures gathered in no way means votes in the end. If it indicates the strength of a ground game, then by all means it is significant IF that ground game can be carried through to the election. That is the key for ANY of these candidates. Establish your ground game and keep it well oiled at the lowest cost possible until voting day.