TRENTON – They crowded into the Trenton Smokehouse as the State of New Jersey burned.

New Jersey teetered on Thursday night at the brink of a government shutdown, but the indefatigable social club otherwise known as the leading purveyors of the two party system couldn’t have been happier in one another’s company.

Assemblyman Craig Coughlin (D-19) served as the focal point for the Trenton party scene as, apparently, Coughlin’s predecessor, sitting Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-32) labored in his office to supposedly reach consensus on a Horizon-Budget deal.

“Let there be no doubt, if the budget comes to me without the Vitale bill and without the lottery, that I will use all the constitutional authority I have to craft the budget to be much more like the budget I submitted in February,” Christie told reporters at the Statehouse after the doomed Assembly budget vote.

As for the governor’s evening plans, he was far from where the streets have no name in the state capital and in attendance at a U2 rock concert up in East Rutherford.

Rather than bash Christie (pictured above) for dereliction of duty, two sources said they suspect Prieto and Christie had already cut a deal to avert a state shutdown.

“Have you noticed that the Horizon PR machine has ground to a halt?” one wag said.

But that appeared unlikely, and on Tuesday morning proved wrong.