Hat in hand, on the way to the door, the Democrat at the bar sheepishly made eye contact, and immediately displayed regret.

It would mean five uncomfortable minutes with a reporter at an inopportune time.

Oh, well.

The shoulders sagged resignedly.

No drink.

Just five minutes.

He spoke on condition of anonymity, reinforcing what other party sources whispered about against the backdrop of Bob Menendez’s meltdown and defiant unwillingness to give ground.

There’s an election on the horizon, on Nov. 7th, and a full week of Menendez coverage with time ticking down has battleground occupants either spazzing out or at the edge of agony.

Four, to begin with, LD-4, is in a very tough spot.

The Democratic candidates in four, along with three and 11 and 16, occupied a “knife’s edge” in a poll that party hands oversaw and harvested out of the field a couple of weeks ago.

The battleground incumbents kick-started their advertising campaigns in an attempt to equalize and began feeling better about things.

Abortion.

Let the GOP try to fight back.

Some confidence returned.

Then Menendez hit.

Already fighting in a sort of cold civil war, Northern bosses don’t necessarily care about losing the seat in 4, a longtime stronghold of the Southern empire.

They won’t cry over it, certainly.

But Middlesex especially wants 11 and 16.

They need 11 and 16 in order to maintain status as the most SWAT-like party organization in the state right now.

Essex has the numbers.

But it also has a lot of drama (just look at the summer and the LD-27 debacle), and no general election field game of real consequence.

It mostly goes through the motions of a November slumber.

Middlesex wants to be able to hoist the season on its back and say, look, South Jersey continues to take punishment, Essex lumbers, and Bergen is along for the ride, while Passaic gets beat up a little.

But it needs 11 and 16 for real bragging rights.

To really show off the muscles.

The source said 16 looks a little stronger for Dems, and of course, 16 is actually partly Middlesex, though the stability of the second assembly seat has caused operatives to break into a cold sweat.

Eleven?

That is the real battleground ultimately.

The real show of strength in rough weather.

Finally, state Senator Vin Gopal (D-11) will wear the win or the loss. He spent years building an organization in Monmouth County.

But Middlesex wants to be able to win back 16 and add its substantial fingerprints to 11, for good measure.

Another poll would come back soon showing the blender of pro-choice ads and the Menendez story.

Until then, the source said he expected a lot of internal agitation, a lot of havoc.