The North Jersey Democratic chairs put Phil Murphy in the chair of power, and the numbers last night out of New Jersey's Democratic Primary prove the primacy of the north for the Dem nominee.

The north gets bullied and buffaloed by the south in the backrooms of Trenton, and lives divided as a matter of egotistical necessity, then puts up embarrassingly better numbers in the streets during elections, leaving onlookers to scratch their heads about why the South maintains its iron grip on statewide leadership.

They're better organized and more disciplined, and pit the north against itself as a mode of political survival.

South Jersey jettisoned an Essex speaker for a Hudson speaker, making sure to keep the two northern goliaths twisted in knots. Split now in so many different factions and fiefdoms, with bosses taking brief turns chest thumping with abandon - if Hudson and Essex could come together, they could rule the world - or at least New Jersey.

South Jersey (Atlantic, Cape May, Salem, Cumberland, Gloucester, Camden,  Burlington and Ocean) collected 54,017 votes for Murphy. Hudson and Essex alone churned out 66,107 votes for the Democratic candidate for governor. Essex harvested the most but just barely, over Hudson, which was has a greater plurality of Democrats but fewer Democrats than Essex, which leads all counties. Add in Bergen and Passaic and you're at 98,000. And that's not factoring in Union and Middlesex and Somerset, etc.

For the record, Atlantic, Camden, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Passaic and Union were the only counties that pushed Murphy above 50%.

All of Murphy's numbers, county by county as furnished by the Secretary of State's Office, can be found below:

ATLANTIC
ATLANTIC COUNTY REGULAR
DEMOCRATS, INC.5,887BERGEN
DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE OF BERGEN
COUNTY

20,067

BURLINGTON
BURLINGTON COUNTY REGULAR
DEMOCRATS

11,855

CAMDEN
CAMDEN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
COMMITTEE, INC.

17,699

CAPE MAY
CAPE MAY COUNTY REGULAR
DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION

1,574

CUMBERLAND
CUMBERLAND COUNTY REGULAR
DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION

1,788

ESSEX
ESSEX COUNTY DEMOCRATIC
COMMITTEE, INC.

34,875

GLOUCESTER
REGULAR DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION
OF GLOUCESTER COUNTY

7,389

HUDSON
HUDSON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC
ORGANIZATION

31,232

HUNTERDON
HUNTERDON COUNTY REGULAR
DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION

2,556

MERCER
REGULAR DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION

11,625

MIDDLESEX
MIDDLESEX COUNTY DEMOCRATIC
ORGANIZATION

20,400

MONMOUTH
MONMOUTH COUNTY DEMOCRATS

12,886

MORRIS
MORRIS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC
COMMITTEE, INC.
10,423

OCEAN
OFFICIAL REGULAR DEMOCRATIC
ORGANIZATION

6,967

PASSAIC
PASSAIC COUNTY DEMOCRATIC
ORGANIZATION, INC.

11,679

SALEM
REGULAR DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION

858

SOMERSET
SOMERSET COUNTY REGULAR
DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION

7,133

SUSSEX
SUSSEX COUNTY DEMOCRATIC
ORGANIZATION

1,891

UNION
REGULAR DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION
OF UNION COUNTY

18,331

WARREN
WARREN COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY

1,409

Total
238,524