Hot Weather Brings Crowds to the Beach and Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach

A nice day at the shore brought crowds to the shore (or is it beach?) at Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, on Tuesday, August 26, 2014.

(Russ DeSantis/The Star-Ledger)

WOODBRIDGE — The electronic note hit reporters' inboxes like a tidal wave.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had something urgent to impart. It couldn't wait. It needed to be shouted from Sandy Hook to Cape May.

Booker's Republican opponent, Jeff Bell, had committed the ultimate faux pas.

He called the Shore "the beach."

It all started innocently enough this morning. Booker was all set to attend a high-dollar fundraiser with President Obama tonight at a fancy restaurant in Union Township. Bell sent out a statement.

"Rather than just spend his time in New Jersey indoors at a Democratic Party fundraiser, President Obama should join with Cory Booker and engage with voters by the beach while the weather's still pleasant," said Bell, New Jersey's 1978 Republican U.s. Senate nominee who lived in Virginia for more than 30 years before returning to New Jersey this year. "I look forward to seeing how voters feel about the both the President's and Cory Booker's job performance. Cory Booker has a record in the U.S. Senate of voting 100% with the Obama agenda."

The fundraiser was later called off so Obama could meet with his cabinet about the government's response to Ebola.

Booker's campaign bit into Bell like a shark seizing an unsuspecting swimmer's leg. A shark whose mouth is filled with press releases instead of teeth.

"Note to Virginia resident Jeff Bell: Here in New Jersey, we call it 'the Shore," Booker campaign manager Brendan Gill said.

Asked by The Auditor if the scandal would force him to drop out, Bell said he'd be able to keep his head above water.

“No, I don’t have any plans to drop out, particularly when everything — including little jabs like that — indicate this is a competitive race," Bell said.

But, he added, "that is kind of cute."

Bell then took to Twitter to point out an inconsistency on Booker's part. On Labor Day weekend, he joined former Sen. Bill Bradley — the man Bell unsuccessfully ran against in 1978 — for a "beach walk."

@MattFriedmanSL they left me no choice but to drag Bill Bradley into this http://t.co/Uj9aIX77yP — Jeff Bell (@JeffBell2014) October 15, 2014

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