EDITOR'S NOTE: With a week to go, here are some more campaign mutterings.

Jack Ciattarelli deviated a bit from his stump speech the other day to muse about appointing justices to the state Supreme Court. He said he expects to get two appointments, including that of the chief justice.

He previously has gone on record as saying he wants to name "ultra-conservative" judges to the bench.

And the other day, he gave us a name - Assemblyman Jay Webber of Morris Plains.

He said nominating Webber, who was standing nearby, would "drive them nuts."  Ciattarelli, presumably, meant the Democrats.

Webber would fit the bill as an ultra-conservative. That has been his forte since his first try for public office back in 2003 - an unsuccessful primary challenge to state Sen. Robert Martin in LD-26.

Webber was elected to the Assembly in 2007 and has been there ever since.

In 2018, he ran for Congress in CD-11 when Rodney Frelinghuysen didn't seek reelection. He won the primary, but lost the general to a newcomer, Mikie Sherrill. (Wonder what happened to her?)

Planned Parenthood, not surprisingly, quickly reacted to the possibility of "Supreme Court Judge Webber," - thereby proving Ciattarelli was right about the pick driving people nuts.

In a release, it called Webber an "anti-abortion hardliner."

* * *

Everyone is confident around election time - at least publicly.

On Sunday, I chatted with Anthony M, Bucco, the Senate Minority Leader, as Ciattarelli wrapped up a campaign stop in Boonton.

Bucco was upbeat, talking about how he has never seen this much excitement around a Republican ticket in New Jersey. And Bucco, whose late father was a respected state senator, has been involved in state politics for a long time.

He then offered an anecdote. Bucco said he was having lunch recently in Woodbridge when a man he never met came up to him, asked him about Jack Ciattarelli, and said the Republican had his vote.

It's only one vote, of course. But the point was that average people are popping up and pledging support for Jack.

Here's the cynical response.

Partisans are always confident - sometimes unrealistically so. After all, you ever hear a campaign official say, "We have no chance. We're going to be killed?"

Neither have I.

* * *

A fascinating press release from Team Sherrill showed up the other day.

In crowing about its outreach operation, the release said that since the June 10 primary, Team Mikie volunteers have contacted "over 9.36 million voters."

Really?

There are only about 6.6 million voters in New Jersey.