MORRISTOWN – Tom Kean Jr. arrived at the Westin Hotel around 10 a.m Sunday and was ushered straight to the dais.

“The road to a Republican House majority runs through Morris County,” Kean told the party faithful at the annual GOTV breakfast of Ann Grossi, the county clerk.

He then thanked the party for its support, talked about “breaking the back of inflation” and that was about it.

Kean’s campaign in CD-7 has not been overly visible to the public at large, so this was a noteworthy event.

Asked afterwards how he sizes things up with two days to go before Election Day, Kean said only that he’s working hard every day. In fact, he said that more than once.

Grossi’s breakfast, which is held the Sunday before the Tuesday election, is guaranteed to draw a sizable number of candidates. And this one was no exception.

Paul DeGroot, the Republican candidate in CD-11, also spoke – quite a bit longer than Kean, in fact.

DeGroot reiterated his campaign planks of parental rights, low taxes, personal liberty and freedom.

But you got the impression he really wanted to talk about his opponent, Mikie Sherrill.

“I haven’t sold my soul,” DeGroot said.

As for Sherrill, “She has sold her soul, sold her values, sold her ethics,” DeGroot said.

Among other things, DeGroot has been annoyed at Sherrill campaign ads that say he is against abortion – even in cases of rape and incest.

Not true. DeGroot says he is pro-choice and that rape and incest should always be exceptions to any state abortion ban.

However, he also says he would not support federal legislation guaranteeing abortion rights nationwide, thereby giving Sherrill an opening for her ads.

Nonetheless, DeGroot said this looks like a great year for Republicans.

And looking ahead, he said it’s important to defeat Sherrill and stop her now, The congresswoman’s name is periodically mentioned as a candidate for higher office.

Speaking of higher office, also on hand was a past – and future – candidate for governor. That was Jack Ciattarelli, who was understandably upbeat. This was a get out the vote breakfast, after all.

Ciattarelli predicted that Republicans will hold the two House seats they have and flip some on Tuesday.

As for Sherrill’s campaign against DeGroot, here was Ciattarelli’s observation:

“They’ve been lying about Paul. That’s a sign of desperation.”