Kean takes war with Menendez to Alito's turf

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, January, 2006 | by Cynthia Burton

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Thomas H. Kean Jr. could not have picked a better place to engage his likely general election opponent, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, on a topical issue: Senate confirmation of Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court.

There Kean was at 10 a.m. yesterday inside Fred & Pete's Deli in Mercerville, surrounded by people brimming with pride that a hometown guy will likely become a Supreme Court justice.

Owner Tom Armenti, who attended Steinert High School with Alito, has had Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the deli's television to please the crowd. He has even shown repeats of the hearings. In fact, he said, his wife has nudged him late at night for keeping the home TV on as he watched the reruns again.

Alito "was so...