Two short months stand between voters and Election Day. With the figurative conclusion of summer on Labor Day, the attention of America and the North Country will shift en masse to the political campaigns that are certain to accelerate into high gear. We urge everyone who will want to write a letter in support of a candidate to begin considering doing so soon.

It's hard to predict whether this will be a season of especially keen political interest. Usually, a presidential election creates a fervor that spreads to all elections, state and local. It at least ensures a big voter turnout. Whether that translates into lots of Letters to the Editor is unknown.

We have already seen numerous letters in behalf of candidates for Clinton County Family Court judge, so we expect that race to be particularly riveting.

With that in mind, we're setting our deadline for political campaign letters at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22. Letters arriving in the Press-Republican newsroom after that will not be published. That should give us enough time to read, edit, scan, type, format, headline and queue up all qualifying letters in time for the Nov. 4 election. As is our custom, we will not publish letters the day before or the day of the election, meaning the last ones must appear in the Sunday, Nov. 2, edition.

It would be helpful if letters were typed, but it is not required. What is required is that they not exceed 300 words and that they contain no libel, or unprovable accusations. You can say what is known to be true -- known by us and the general public, since we don't have time to verify every fact in every letter.

Be sure to respect the difference between fact and opinion. You may state an opinion, such as "I believe this person has not lived up to his (or her) public responsibility," but you may not characterize as fact something that may not be, such as "This person is motivated by greed alone." You cannot know what motivates another person.

All letters must have a full name, community of residence and phone number. The phone number is for verification purposes only; it will not be published.

In political letters, we ask that you concentrate on the positives of one candidate rather than the negatives of another. If you dwell on the negatives, they must be carefully spelled out so as not to commit libel, which could ensnare both the writer and the Press-Republican in a potential lawsuit. We are not prepared to risk a lawsuit over an irresponsible Letter to the Editor.

All of that being said, however, we welcome the brisk exchange of opinions as the elections near, and they will arrive sooner than most of us imagine. They promise to be exciting. We hope the letters will prove to be illuminating and interesting for all.