TRENTON – They just went back into the Governor’s office, Senate President Steev Sweeney and Speaker Craig Coughlin.

“As long as we’re talking, there’s hope,” Sweeney told reporters, trudging among them, as Coughlin, grinning, cut diagonally in front of Sweeney and the mob on his way to the door.

A reporter barked out a query about Sweeney and the millionaire’s tax.

Does he still oppose it?

“I’m not going to talk about it,” Sweeney said.

“I’m optimistic,” he added.

NJBIZ reporter Daniel Munoz tweeted the following after the interaction:

“We made an offer, we’re coming back to see what they have to say,” @NJSenatePres Sweeney says, as he and @SpeakerCoughlin head into budget talks with Gov. @PhilMurphyNJ
#NJBudgetDrama #NJBudget

When he saw Coughlin crossing the parking lot with his staff, the senate president told the press,”Why you get him and leave me alone?”

The speaker leered sideways as he escaped into the building, Sweeney shedding reporters as he went in on his ally’s heels.

The same dreary waiting followed, with reporters entertaining themselves by trying to get the placidly beach chair-ensconced Michael Aron of NJTV to cooperate with a Chris Christie shutdown impersonation.

A little later, Sweeney and company reappeared in the parking lot.

“I’m not going to talk to you,” Coughlin told reporters, who scattered, as he trooped through with Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald.

Sweeney helped Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg into the back of his SUV before climbing into the front side passenger seat.

“We’ll talk later,” he said in response to a question about whether or not the leaders had reached an agreement after the latest meeting, which clocked an hour and 40 minutes.