So long summer, hello election season

After a wonderful summer in which most of my vacation time and much of my free time on weekends was spent sampling beaches in Ocean and Monmouth Counties - from Beach Haven to Barnegat Light to Bay Head to Spring Lake to Ocean Grove to Asbury Park - it's back to reality. The November elections are fast approaching.

For myself and the other members of the Press editorial board, that means spending much of the next month cloistered with political candidates for various offices to help us determine which ones to endorse. This week, we met with six sets of candidates. In all-too-many cases, the quality in terms of experience, knowledge and understanding of issues, and ability to articulate wasn't what we were hoping for. There were some exceptions. Yesterday, for instance, we met with 9th District Senate candidates Christopher Connors, the Republican incumbent, and Democrat Russell Corby, longtime mayor of Pine Beach and onetime chief of staff to former state Sen. John Russo Sr.
Both men knew what they were talking about. Both men disagreed on issues like gentlemen. Both men showed respect for one another. It's too bad they couldn't be cloned.