Hugh Reynolds: How do you spell Torres?

Beisel, to whom some Family Court lawyers attribute “perfect judicial temperament,” meaning calm, thoughtful and courteous to all, was at the Ellenville event, too, but didn’t have Energizer Bunny Auerbach running him from one handshake or one baby-kiss to the next.

The columnist Reynolds.

Kingston Mayor Gallo and County Executive Hein have bigger fish to fry in any event, meaning their own political futures in the Democratic Party. Gallo will almost certainly face a primary next year, as he did in 2011. The only question is who his opponent will be. Hein, though he seems a colossus as he grins his way from one photo-op to the next, could be vulnerable in a Democratic primary. Neither pol will want to gamble precious political capital by backing a losing judicial candidate in this primary, or heaven forbid, by endorsing a Republican in the general.

There are some who believe one of these candidates is going to take close to half the vote, which means one will almost certainly bomb. For the party, a decisive winner would be a good thing, but deep divisions between candidates suggest that won’t be the outcome.

Teacher’s pet?

Does Fordham law professor and transplanted Vermonter Zephyr Teachout really have a chance against incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo in next Tuesday’s Democratic primary? Probably not, but she might carry Ulster County and other parts of upstate.

A more likely upset lurks in the battle of unknowns for lieutenant governor between Tim Wu of New York City and Kathy Hochul of Erie County. Nobody cares about lieutenant governor, so maybe in extremely light voting the Columbia law professor can slip by the former congresswoman whom some diehard Democrats view as a little soft on Republicans.

Teachout and her campaign bus have paid at least three visits to backwater Ulster this summer, Wu and Hochul one each. Obviously, no statewide races will be decided in tiny Ulster, but if Democrats in New York City stay home, as they usually do, and Teachout lights enough fires upstate, it just might be possible. But I doubt it.

Cuomo ignored Teachout during the primary campaign, except for a failed effort to bump her off the ballot, but he has committed almost $900,000 in campaign funds to 11th-hour TV advertising, according to the state Board of Elections. Teachout, running on a shoestring by comparison, had just over $200,000 on hand last week. Cuomo has another $30 million in reserve for the fall campaign and is actively fundraising.

Speaking of heavy hitters, we weren’t able to independently confirm that Vice President Joe Biden spent a few hours at the Emerson in Mount Tremper over the weekend. A big police presence was reported. Nobody reported naked people in the Esopus, however.

The meter is running

Item: Poughkeepsie officials predict parking meter revenues will fall short by $860,000. The projection had been $1.3 million. “Parking meter revenue doesn’t look too good right now,” Alderman Joe Rich told the Poughkeepsie Journal.  Really?

And what about Kingston?

Poughkeepsie’s “looked pretty aggressive,” said City Comptroller John Tuey, echoing Rich’s understatement. For Kingston, the good news is that parking meter revenue is on pace with budget, about $270,000 by the end of the year. Through the end of July the city collected $165,000 in nickels, dimes and quarters from its approximately 400 meters, said the comptroller. That’s consistent with the past three years, when parking-meter revenue averaged about $265,000 a year.

Kudos to Kingston, which seldom suffers in comparison to Poughkeepsie. Before anybody at City Hall dances around the cash register, recall at the turn of the decade when parking meter maven Mike Madsen, a former alderman and county legislator, predicted new meters in Kingston would generate at least $500,000 in annual revenues. Oops.

Meanwhile, Tuey says the city averaged about $250,000 a year in fines for parking violations over the past three years. Now 2014 is shaping up as a fine banner year. The city budgeted $300,000 in fines this year, but is on track to collect $375,000, according to the city comptroller.

As in golf, there’s always darkness after sunshine. City records show that traffic fines tend to decline sharply after jumbo years — $309,000 in 2012, $230,000 in 2013 — as motorists either exercise caution or avoid the city.

What this episode suggests is that municipal budgeting is at best an educated guess, at worst, Poughkeepsie.