WEST NEW YORK - The dancing was going strong at 10:45 a.m. and the guest of honor was still almost an hour away.

Mix the political passion of Hudson County with a Latin beat and that's what you get.

When Mikie Sherrill's campaign bus pulled up alongside Las Palmas restaurant on Bergenline Avenue, some of the crowd spilled outside to meet it.

She climbed a staircase to the second floor and accompanied by such local Democratic leaders as mayors Albio Sires and Brian Stack, Sherrill was soon at the podium.

And she also had a guest - Ruben Gallego, a U.S. senator from Arizona.

Gallego said that both he and Sherrill have defended the country by also serving in the military.

He was in the Marines; Sherrill, of course, in the Navy.

Just so no one forgot, Gallego wore a Marines baseball cap and Sherrill a Navy sweater.

"Come se dice, gateway," Sherrill said. Yes, she really did.

This is the Gateway Tunnel, a new rail tunnel under the Hudson. Construction has begun, but Donald Trump says he is terminating the project.

This is an issue. Sherrill uses it to attack Jack Ciattarelli for not publicly criticizing the president for ending a vital New Jersey project. Ciattarelli says Trump is just playing hardball politics.

The answer to Sherrill's query was "la puerta."

Then the congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate did a reasonably good job speaking Spanish to the crowd. Sires, a native of Cuba, said he was impressed.

"Yo necesito tu ayuda ahora," she said. (I need your help now).

That was the whole idea - get people to vote early. Sunday was the last day for that. And if not, vote Tuesday.

Stack, the mayor of Union City a few blocks to the south, is known for generating massive turnouts in his city and this year apparently is no exception.

There were jokes about how many mailers Stack has sent out. He himself told volunteers to meet him afterwards so they could continue working.

The issue discussed was the focal point of the Sherrill campaign. The Trump Administration is hurting New Jersey and the state needs someone to fight back.

Stack, for instance, said the administration just cancelled a multi-million dollar federal grant to the city to build an electric bus garage.

Gallego, apparently carried away with the frenzy of the morning, introduced a new name for Sherrill, or at least a new pronunciation.

Owing to the Latin flavor of the day, he called her, "La Meekie."