Last night DA Hynes spoke at the residence of Ben Barber

Brooklyn District Attorney Charlie Hynes is girding for a nasty reelection fight after going after machine powerbroker Clarence Norman. Last night, he spoke at the Borough park residence of Ben Barber, a businessman and community liaison for Bill Thompson, and told an audience of roughly 75 people that he felt he needed to raise $1 million by June.

"He tells people that he is running again, he tells people about his programs and that crime has come down an that he hoped to raise one million or more, which he has done in the past," said Mortimer Matz, a spokesman for Hynes' 2009 reelection campaign, who couldn't confirm last night's meeting but called it possible. "He has brought many cases that involve corruption in Kings County and obviously one is the chairman. Obviously when you do that there is a political structure that isn't going to do to well for you."

Those hard feelings, Matz said, are the reason Hynes is out there so early.

"He has got to be out there earlier, work harder and try to get the public to understand what he's done," said Matz.

--Jason Horowitz