The challenge of about 140 mail-in ballots for Tuesday's election battle by Jim Bean, the Republican challenger of Democrat incumbent Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, has snared a veteran of a real war: a 90-year-old man who served in World War II.
It appeared to be a normal night in the remote waterside hamlet of Red Hook, Brooklyn—a slight chill came off the docks and swept through the desolate warehouses, and on the streets knotty wooden planks studded with rusty nails lay strewn on empty streets. The asphalt was pockmarked with potholes, and the nearest sign of life seemed miles away.