SPARTA - Rebecca Bennett scanned the crowd Sunday morning and noted that Tom Kean Jr. has not had a single public event since he took office.

She was right about that, and the 60 or so people in the local ambulance squad building certainly agreed.  This was another one of Bennett's "Deckplate Leadership Tours" around CD-7.

Everyone following this race knows that Kean does not engage in unplanned interactions with the public. His formal events are not announced and if reporters find out about them and show up, they are generally not allowed in.

Surely, a Kean comment a while back that he engages with the media more than most officials do is so untrue it is ridiculous.

Then again, does this matter?

Or put another way, is Kean's refusal to engage going to hurt him on Nov. 3?

One thing is sure. It did not hurt him two years ago when he basically did the same thing and won reelection over Sue Altman.

Many media accounts of this year's race have quoted Republicans as saying Kean's inaccessibility is a non-issue - something only reporters care about.

Back in August, Bill Palatucci, a Republican National Committeeman, said essentially that when I chatted with him at Sen. Anthony M. Bucco's annual golf outing.

That argument is easy to understand. Average people do not care if a congressman makes public appearances, because they're unlikely to go to them anyway.

Kean's overall advantage is that the district has about 16,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats.

But on the other hand, this looks like a bad year for Republicans and Democrats are way ahead in early voting.

One pertinent joke could be voters wouldn't attend a Kean town hall - even if he had one - because gas is so expensive.

The incumbent congressman certainly acts as if he is in trouble, Just look at his TV commercials.

Among other things, they suggest Bennett, a healthcare executive, is a greedy millionaire and an accomplice to harming, or even killing, patients.

Bennett was asked Sunday about Kean's commercials. She joked:

"The next thing they're going to say is that ... I eat puppies and I'm going to cancel Christmas."

More seriously, Bennett, who for the record has a rescue dog, said Kean has no positive accomplishments.

So, he is trying to "drag me down into the mud."