Who will take up Hinchey’s Progressive cause?

The questions on the issues continue for another 15 minutes or so, and Schreibman closes it out. Softspoken, mild-mannered, he’ll patiently explain positions to those who approach him afterward. There is no aggressive working of the room. Indeed, some leave with handfuls of cookies without ever shaking the candidate’s hand or having a personal word.

We finally get to talk a little, away from the crowd.

“You never mentioned June 26 …” I say.

“I didn’t? My bad,” he replies.

“And you never asked them to vote for you on that day …”

How does he think he’s going to win the primary election against Joel Tyner?

Schreibman touts his volunteer effort, the one that he says has made more calls to Democrats than any congressional candidate ever, or something like that. The direct-mail campaign, the glossy piece that just arrived last week.

Is Schreibman right? Is he a shoe-in for the primary, based on the reaching-out, despite what appears a limited in-person effort to connect to a wide variety of Democrats?

In the field, by fire

Joel Tyner doesn’t think so.

“They say Democratic primaries are often won in the field, by fire,” says Tyner, who is trying to be everywhere, every day. “It’s not just strong grass-roots support…You have to have everybody, not just the activists in D.C.”

It’s noontime on a Friday, what Tyner calls Frack-Free Fridays, and a rally is scheduled for him on Academy Green in Kingston. At the appointed hour, four supporters are slowly unfurling a couple of signs. A quick beer at Keegan’s passes a half hour, and now there are eight volunteers holding up “No Fracking” signs, seeking honks from the passing traffic in support, along with a Tyner for Congress banner. They are getting a bunch of honks, some yells and thumbs up. Perhaps some might be honks of derision, with a different digit held up. Maybe one in 20. But the folks get to see No Fracking and Tyner in the same glance.

“I would humbly tell you, Ulster and Dutchess are in play,” says Tyner, who is dressed in casual, rumpled clothes. “In Otsego, we’ve covered 80 percent of the population with phone calls. Sure, he’s sent out nice brochures, and has the robocalls…but I have a feeling Mr. Schreibman is going to lose.”

Not too long ago, the Dutchess county resident, now in his late forties, was thought of as one of those perennially marginal candidates who runs over and over again and always loses. But then he won a seat on the Dutchess County Legislature, and has not relinquished it for a decade, with five wins in a row after his first five losses. You gotta believe…

And Tyner does. Maybe a little too much. His presentation is kind of like an infinite sentence. It rolls along without much discernable punctuation, a jumble of fact and left-wing positions. After about a half hour of the infinite sentence, it appears to recycle like a loop, and you begin getting the same phrases again. That’s where it’s prudent to cut him off.

Tyner can be funny and engaging. Accused of being known as a one-issue candidate he says, “Well, you get my messages. For 20 years people have been telling me to focus, Joel, focus…”