Who will take up Hinchey’s Progressive cause?

His much less robustly funded campaign is fueled by a constant stream of emails announcing his positions and rallies and endorsements. There are many appearances. You can find him somewhere almost every day, in contrast to Schreibman. (From the reporter’s notebook: 12:45 p.m. Thursday…Where’s Julian? Greg, in the office, doesn’t know where he is or if he has events scheduled. Levy, the campaign manager, says vaguely “He’s traveling, then has a variety of meetings around the area.” His schedule? “It’s a moving target…”)

Tyner is wound up. “I know how to win. I’m not sure Julian has the fire in the belly. It’s the intensity on the ground. We’ve got momentum …”

The result is …

On the issues, is there daylight between them? Afghanistan? “I would end Afghanistan quicker than the administration,” says Schreibman. Tyner — “End the wars and invest at home.” Industry for the area, and jobs? Both support solar initiatives and complain about both governor Andrew Cuomo’s and president Barack Obama’s energy policies.

Then we get to fracking — Tyner’s campaign runs on his opposition to it. He says Schreibman has waffled. Schreibman disagrees. Tyner points to a WAMC radio show in April where, he says, Schreibman said that he felt “the jury was still out.”

He did say that, but there’s some context to go with it. Here’s Schreibman on that program: “We all want to have energy security and energy independence. So I understand the appeal to getting at that natural gas…But in terms of the impact, the jury is still out and there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical, not just with respect to the potential environmental impacts for clean water and clean air, both of which may be very significant, but also with respect to real-estate values with respect to people and their relationships with banks that have given mortgages on their property.”

So you decide. Schreibman says he did not change positions. “I’m with Maurice Hinchey on fracking, his bill and a moratorium,” he says. “I believe it’s bad for the environment and the economy. Make landowners be positive in what they want to be doing with their land and not distracted by get-rich-quick schemes.”

Tyner’s fracking opposition is much on display, with a number of tracts that decry the practice. And he believes that his position is a winner.

While September primaries may draw 20% to 30% of voters, one Dutchess County Democratic leader speculated, a June primary may attract only 10% to 12% of Democrats to the polls. “If only 12% turned out I could win with 7800 fractivists…” muses Tyner.

What’s going to happen? Well, as the insurance broker would say, if you knew that you’d know how much coverage to buy.

Do you prefer the lower-key, better-funded guy, with all-around party backing and the volunteers that go with that, but whose passion appears muted and whose drive can be questioned? Or the loud, brash underfunded and understaffed underdog who won’t stop, who is careening down the tracks, maybe barely avoiding, or not, a wreck?

Will voters respond to Schreibman’s direct mail and phone calls if they haven’t gotten to meet the candidate in person? Or if they start to hear Tyner’s infinite sentence will they think twice?

Even if Schreibman is correct in his assumption that that a June 26 primary victory is within reach and that the real objective is the November election against Republican Gibson, is he missing an opportunity to become better known (ask ten people randomly who he is and see the results) and the chance to portray himself as a winner of an election?

The two are close on the issues. Both reverently seek the mantle, the legacy of liberalism that Hinchey leaves behind. Schreibman plays from the inside, Tyner from the outside.

And the winner will have to chase Gibson, who, according to sources in the northern counties of the district “is everywhere…” Gibson has garnered praise from WAMC’s Alan Chartock for supporting public broadcasting’s funding in Congress.

But that’s another election. First things first.

New Paltz debate not open to public – Julian Schreibman and Joel Tyner will participate in a debate at Woodland Pond, a senior residence in New Paltz, at 12:30 p.m. next Monday, June 18. As of press time, it is not open to the public, though reporters will be present.