Sal Vega

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville) and his wife, Debbie.: Politicker photo 

DENVER - The crowd crams into the Spotted Dog for Assemblyman John Wisniewski’s (D-Sayreville) convention watch party, which includes three other recognizable elected officials packed cheek by jowl into this low-ceilinged underground Inverness Hotel hangout: Assemblyman Gordon Johnson of Bergen and West New York Mayor Sal Vega and Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs.

Wisniewski’s been attending conventions going all the way back to 1976, when his father served as a member of the New Jersey delegation. Now he has his own daughters here and they’ve already been on the floor of the Pepsi Center.

"It’s a relaxing atmosphere down here, in a way even better than getting on and off the bus to go out there to the Pepsi Center," says Wisniewski, chair of the state Assembly Transportation Committee.

"At least I know New Jersey’s not the only place with gridlock," he says.

DENVER - The perceived indignity of standing in a crush of bodies behind the Island of Guam in that gaping blue glow of the Pepsi Center, coupled with the ongoing grind of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) loss, didn’t do much to boost the spirits of the delegation, as coming in here they hung their last hopes on a podium appearance by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Union City).

"No comment," state Party chairman Joseph Cryan said when poked about Menendez’s chances of speaking.

When it finally didn’t happen, the bulk of Garden State Democrats looked again for sustenance in Senator Clinton, who won by nearly ten points in New Jersey, whose presence on stage could keep the painful tensions of every silently suffering delegate alive for a few more hours - building to some end that was as yet unknown.

And yet when she spoke on Tuesday, Clinton put a larger political conflict in very stark terms, attempting to uplift to battle stations a mood that could easily go straight to a meltdown with the wrong tone.

Gov. Jon Corzine with Bill and Hillary Clinton at an Invesco Field party: Politicker PhotoDENVER - Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) speech was over, but the night wasn't done.

Invesco Field crowded the horizon like a set-piece out of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and State party Chairman Joe Cryan and West New York Mayor Sal Vega trudged under the crisscrossing Denver highways, leading a scattered contingent of the New Jersey delegation.

Inside they were greeted by the familiar strains of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer," and when the rest of the haggard-looking delegation finally arrived, either by foot or bus from the nearby Pepsi Center, they found a stage overcrowded with Gov. Jon Corzine, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, and New York Gov. David Patterson.

Joining the governors on stage were none other than the Clintons.

DENVER – Just before enjoying the Democratic delegates’ first breakfast, West New York Mayor and former Assemblyman Sal Vega told PolitickerNJ that  he doesn’t expect to ever seek to return to the Assembly seat he vacated last year to run a grueling and bitter long-shot primary against for state Senate against Union City Mayor Brian Stack.

That’s because he’d have to give up his mayoralty, which he prefers. 

“I enjoy being the executive of my municipal government,” said Vega, a Hillary Clinton delegate.  “When I left the Assembly, Assemblyman [John] Burzichelli, who I had gotten to know, said ‘Don’t feel bad, because there are only two people that citizens know and remember: the president of the United States and the mayor of their town.”

It was one of those Hudson County moments. West New York Mayor Silverio “Sal” Vega, who ran in a nasty State Senate primary race against Union City Mayor Brian Stack, stood with Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, a Stack ally, to announce a peace agreement of sorts in the 33rd district.

During the primary campaign six months ago, Vega had called Stack “crooked,” compared his hold on Union City to a cult of personality and accused him of bribing county committeemen and women to take their names off the ballot. Stack responded by Vega a “puppet” of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO).

West New York Mayor/outgoing Assemblyman Silverio "Sal" Vega, who lost a bloody state senate primary campaign against Union City Mayor Brian Stack, appears ready to bury the hatchet.

Tomorrow, Vega and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner will hold a press conference in 56th Street and Blvd East in West New York to call for unity in the 33rd legislative district. Vega said that Turner will appear on behalf of Stack, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires and the rest of the rival Democrats for Hudson County.

It was a coronation in a divided Kingdom.

Tonight Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy officially took the throne – or podium, as it were -- as Chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization.

“I want to thank all the mayors who ran behind me and all the candidates who ran last Tuesday, because without their help, I certainly wouldn’t be here,’ said Healy.

It hurts. It hurts to go through it and it hurts to sit there and look at it when it goes down.

But there they were in Trenton, the lately vanquished making an effort in that stately chamber to appear at the office as usual.

Come New Year they’d be out the door.

There was Assemblyman Sal Vega, beaten by Assemblyman Brian Stack at the polls, sitting next to none other than Stack, who mostly stayed occupied on a cell-phone in the lead up Monday’s session.

"I was here working last Thursday, right after the election," said Vega

The beer wasn’t free at Brian Stack’s victory celebration, but the crowd loved it anyway.

Several hundred people turned up at Fomento Hall to see Stack give his victory speech, and were treated to the first minute or so of Queen’s classic song “We Will Rock You,” loudly looped over and over again for a good half an hour.  Leading up to Stack’s appearance, the audience grew so antsy that a cheer rose up when a balloon popped.

Stack had just trounced his opponent, Sal Vega, getting 77% of the vote.  He even beat Vega in his home town of West New York, where he’s mayor.  The two assembly candidates on his slate, Ruben Ramos, Jr. and Caridad Rodriguez, also won.

As of mid-afternoon no physical fights had broken out in Union City or West New York. But that’s not to say the scene here is calm by any other county's standard.

In West New York, a stranger visiting town could conceivably not notice that there’s a campaign going on. Sal Vega signs are plentiful, and there are even a few for Stack. But if the number of signs each candidate has on his turf was any indication of who’s going to win the 33rd district State Senate race, then Brian Stack and his Column B team would win this one by what must be a 10:1 margin.