WALL – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) just entered the crowded union hall here and tried to make the long walk to the front of the room, overcrowded with committee people mostly galvanized by a competitive 4th District Congressional contest for the line between retired Navy officer Josh Welle and tavern owner/activist Jim Keady.

“This is madness,”  said former Freeholder Amy Mallet.

“It wasn’t like this when I ran,” acknowledged Lorna Phillipson, the 2016 nominee for the seat currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4).

Keady was out on the highway moments ago outside IBEW Local 400 with a bundled up, sign-shaking carde of diehards.

It was a brave group.

In heavy winds, on a morning where New Jerseyans exited their homes to find felled telephone poles, they all risked getting blown into oncoming traffic.

Soon it would begin.

It was a big deal.

Thirty-four of the 43 municipalities in the 4th District are in Monmouth.

A third candidate also competed for the seat held by Smith: music teacher Mike Keeling.

But Keady and Welle appeared to be locked in a mano-a-mano as excited delegates led by Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Dave Brown prepared for the showdown.

“We’re going to elect Democrats up and down the ballot across the 53 towns,” said state Senator Vin Gopal (D-11), up at the front of the room with U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6), Assemblywoman Joanne Downey (D-11) and Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling (D-11) to greet the arriving Menendez.

“This is the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen in here,” said Houghtaling, who said he’s been in out of this union hall for 40 years.

A self-described “generic bald guy” ran the convention.

It was Greg Cannon, a councilman from Aberdeen.