Middlesex and Bergen – through the jagged detritus of the last year plus, the two bulky, mostly suburban sprawl counties have tried to forge a friendly political toehold together.

Last year, Middlesex County Democratic Chairman Kevin McCabe threw a party upstairs at Il Castello’s for Gordon Johnson, then vying for a senate seat; and last night, McCabe raised some money for incumbent County Executive Jim Tedesco.

In both cases, McCabe was looking to help his North Jersey counterpart, Bergen County Democratic

Committee Chairman Paul Juliano, who in turn gave him the names to write on the checks collected at the door.

Last night, the event hauled about 30 grand for Tedesco, and again underscored the coziness between McCabe and Juliano.

Asked to put the partnership in one word, a source said, “Compelling.”

Middlesex County Commissioner Ron Rios was in the room.

State Senator Joe Lagana was there.

So was Speaker Craig Coughlin.

And Assemblyman Joe Danielsen.

Some vendors and assorted insider types helped fill out the room, one of the Middlesex party chairman’s key haunts.

Juliano and McCabe looked to be chatty at the event.

What does it mean?

Only that if counties start forming up and welding themselves to one another in advance of the 2025 gubernatorial primary, Middlesex and Bergen might be hard to pry apart.

Or maybe they fall apart before then.

For the moment, the two chairs looked happily coexistent, with Juliano already committed to helping Coughlin next year in a legislative election cycle.

Middlesex and Bergen.

A love story?

Well, kind of – Jersey politics style; which means before they kill each other, look for someone else to first wind up as a casualty.