The Democrats today didn't fail to override Gov. Chris Christie's budget line item vetoes so much as succeed, in their view, at extravagantly tattooing Christie with a $900 million bully brand in time for elections, says Patrick Murray, a Monmouth University pollster and political scientist.  

"It was just an effort to put Republicans on record, to politically use each of these budget items," said Murray. "There was no expectation that any of these would succeed. The Democrats argued that they put forward the money and gave the governor an easy way to fund important programs and the Republicans snubbed their noses. They'll look for those line items most likely to give them traction with the public and argue that this or that population is suffering because Republicans won't fund them."

The strategy can work if Democrats can unify with one voice, he said. Part of their challenge with being able to make an example of the governor and his lockstep party apologists, however, is there are not too many competitive legislative elections this year, he explained.

Murray cites a handful that have battleground potential: 2, 14 and 38. Of those, only the 38th has the most potential for impact by today's overrides, he said.

"In the 14th (a public-sector, worker-dominant district), the pension vote was more important than the others, and (incumbent state Sen.) Linda Greenstein has the upper hand because of that," Murray said. "As for the 2nd, (incumbent state Sen. Jim) Whelan and (challenger, Assemblyman Vince) Polistina are focused on Atlantic City issues. Atlantic City is the driver of the economy in that district."

Murray did mention the potential for Democrats to attempt an insurrection in the newly formed 11th District, where incumbent state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-11) faces challenger Ray Santiago of Freehold, an attorney. Today, Beck broke ranks with the GOP to vote in favor of restoring $7.5 million in women's healthcare funding.