Senate Candidate Didi Barrett Sprints to the Finish Line
By Michael Boyajian
State Senate candidate Didi Barrett is sprinting to the finish line on Tuesday in her gallant Mid Hudson Valley race. She kicks off the final drive of her campaign with an event at the Chill Wine Bar Thursday in Beacon hosted by noted community activist Mara Farrell. Mara is the founder of the prestigious Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot to whom Didi has pledged her support. The Fishkill Supply Depot is the largest extant burial ground of Revolutionary War soldiers in the nation and is threatened by developers yet has received scant interest from her opponent Senator Stephen Saland.
Didi’s campaign began many months ago as a reaction to the antics in Albany and Saland’s opposition to the marriage equality bill in the senate. With that she garnered initial support from many good government forces and gay rights advocates across the state.
It has snow balled into a genuine reform campaign energizing good government supporters seeking to change the dysfunctional culture in Albany. She has become one of the standard bearers of this movement that has become a groundswell this year.
But it has not been all smooth going for this reformer. Most recently a local paper dedicated its entire issue to the candidates running for office this year in the area but left out the hotly contested senate candidates while running advertising from their GOP opponents like Saland. So far only the blogosphere has managed to cry foul over this skullduggery that rises to an ugly level of Byzantine style politics.
Nonetheless Did has garnered endorsements from powerful groups like the SEIU, New York EdPac, Planned Parenthood, Marriage Equality, the League of Conservation Voters and Emily’s List to name but a few. She has also won the support of important newspapers in the region like the Kingston Daily Freeman and the Millerton News. Her efforts have also been featured in many influential papers including the New York Times and Gannett’s Poughkeepsie Journal.
All in all she has been riding a wave of “throw the bums out” sentiment and it may very well carry her to victory this Election Day.