I'm currently interviewing a boatload of people who want to represent you in the state Legislature — no easy task, considering that the north country was badly gerrymandered — and wanted to share a quick tidbit from one of my interviews.

Like all the legislators, I asked Amy Tresidder, a Democrat running for state Senate against Sen. Patty Ritchie, what her top priority in the Senate would be.

She was the only one to strike at the heart of a concrete policy question.

"I think it's one of the things that, on my platform, it's one of the things that will most likely be addressed," Mrs. Tresidder said.

She has previously said she's support the minimum-wage increase, but the fact that she named it as a No. 1 priority gives her campaign a new populist twist.

Democrats in the Senate and Assembly want to hike the minimum wage, and a proposal earlier this year would have raised it to $8.50 an hour, from $7.25.

Mrs. Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, didn't support that particular proposal, but hasn't ruled out supporting a hypothetical minimum wage increase at an unspecified level.

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