TRENTON – A day dawned in the State Capital on Tuesday, as the strains of the Grateful Dead swamped the seating area inside the War Memorial and insiders prepared to welcome Phil Murphy as the Governor of New Jersey.

NJTV Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron, the dean of New Jersey media and once a reporter at Rolling Stone Magazione, told InsiderNJ, “I think I remember this one.”

The press found itself herded and gnarled into a holding pen inside the War Memorial, where newly hired young Murphy staffers channeled Bull Connor facial expressions at the entry points to the theater proper. How long would David Cruz of NJTV News consent to stay sequestered in this confined space?

How long?

Not long, as it turned out.

Soon, reporters crawled the balcony.

Brendan Gill and his wife entered downstairs and took a mild, understated victory lap in the lead-up to the ceremony.

Burlington County GOP Chairman Bill Layton showed up.

His former business partner, Peter Cammarano, serves as the new governor’s chief of staff, amid back chatter about Gill and Cammarano hitting heads behind the scenes early, talk that has since abated, mostly supplanted by the woes most insiders associate with a new governor and young staff coming in and having to go toe to toe with formidable Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3).

“Well, at least they’ve got Pete,” one veteran harrumphed at InsiderNJ.

Democratic State Party Chairman John Currie arrived with an entourage and ascended the great stairs into the War Memorial.

He was with Passaic County Sherriff Dick Berdnik.

“I don’t have a problem with Sweeney,” Currie told InsiderNJ. “I respect him.”

The comments came in response to a question about his political relationship with the senate president, who sat out Currie’s swearing-in last month, and whose ratified Speaker, Craig Coughlin of Middlesex, took his own oath of office a week ago without the presence of Currie.

The state party chairman beamed.

“It’s a good day for Democrats,” he said.