ATLANTIC CITY – He stood stolidly in the intimate, packed surroundings of the Irish Pub, Steve Sweeney, former Senate President of New Jersey. Sweeney once had the biggest parties here at the League of Municipalities, where he displayed an uncanny ability to juggle multiple, ear-tugging personalities hurled at him across enormous, standing-room-only rooms.

A lesser man might have thrown a punch on one of those occasions, brought an elbow back, or even just displayed teeth of irritability on the receiving end of an unending circus of humanity.

Now running for governor – not from the perch of the senate presidency, but as the South Jersey-centric elder statesman with surviving statewide Building Trades tentacles, the laborer-lawmaker made it look easy laboring among lawmakers still attached to public office and their always-searching-for-something adherents.

Sweeney not only welcomed people to his own event in the pub where a reproduction of Dempsey knocking out Firpo by George Bellows hangs on the hall. He party-hopped, as he especially sought connectivity with those in his own party, beleaguered Democrats only partially humiliated by the national election results as they maintain control of New Jersey.

Sweeney got around down here.

He went to state Senator Vin Gopal’s event, showed up at the Essex event, Garden State Equality, South Jersey Chamber, IBEW, among others.

Notable attendees at his Irish Pub soiree included Hudson County Democratic Chairman Craig Guy and Democratic State Party Chairman LeRoy Jones. Their dual North Jersey presence turned more than a few heads and lifted some drunken ones off the bar.

Jones is said to back Sweeney’s rival, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11) of Essex for governor. Guy comes from a county where the most hyperactive vote generator, state Senator Brian P. Stack, supports another Sweeney rival, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5). Gottheimer’s and Sherrill entered the Democratic Primary Friday and Monday, respectively.

Sweeney didn’t appear concerned.

Down here, on his turf, he got a chance to show off his familiarity with the terrain, which means he didn’t have to do a lot of showing off. He just showed up – and along for the ride with him marched many Building Trades members, South Jersey elected officials, and officials from throughout the state, including the odd aforementioned head-turning cameo or two.

Among some Democrats still feeling very roughed up by Donald Trump, and preparing for four years of getting bullied, Sweeney, no longer star of the show, but still in the hunt for the governorship of his home state, opted for agile maneuverability among the parties, to enhance his own Irish Pub-grounded visibility, with a Building Trades base at the ready.