ATLANTIC CITY – The most popular man in this seaside gambling mecca, fast-galloping Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy considered the implications of down ballot damage in battleground districts as he rides a 25-point lead over Republican Kim Guadagno.

Most of the buzz in Atlantic City concerns opportunities, both to offend in defend, in 2, 16, and 11.

“I would say, back to my Howard Dean days, we are whole ballot folks, no matter what people say,” Murphy told InsiderNJ. “We care deeply about the entire ballot. Obviously, if you’re strong up top, that has implications down ballot. But with all due respect to the poll, we’re not counting our chickens. We’re not taking anything for granted.”

Murphy walked with his Campaign Manager Brendan Gill and Communications Point Man Derek Roseman.

“It’s a whole ballot mentality, and Brendan is running it,” the Democratic gubernatorial candidate added. “We think they’re all competitive.”

Murphy spent the morning at a labor breakfast, where former Congressman Patrick Kennedy held his attention as Kennedy spoke about the horrors of addiction and his own family’s vital history of labor advocacy. He gave several shout outs to the Boston-born Murphy, noted Murphy’s middle class upbringing, and noted his own grandfather, Joe Kennedy’s, achievements as a pioneering Irish millionaire who stuck it to the British when FDR awarded him with the ambassadorship to the Court of St. James.