When I took on the job of editorial page editor four weeks ago, I thought the biggest challenge would be helping to conceive and execute the daily editorials that appear in this newspaper some 365 days a year.

Silly me. I should have given more thought to the letters to the editor that arrive each day from all over the country, be they by e-mail, fax, snail mail or personal delivery.

Now, I’m not referring to just any letters here, but those letters. And by those letters I mean the letters that arrive on a daily basis extolling either the virtues or vices of the Democratic and Republican candidates running for president of the United States.

Such is the life of an editorial page editor in the first-primary state – at least for now.