They have long been two young men on a collision course.

The only difference now is that Assemblyman Sean Connors's (D-33) ding of downtown Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop yesterday came in defense of incumbent Mayor Jerry Healy and not his own mayoral campaign, which insiders once thought he could mount as early as next year.

A 2013 challenger to Healy, Fulup seized on Connors's affiliation with the mayor to brand the freshman assemblyman a henchman eager to protect the king. 

"It is sad that the Healy lieutenants resort to name calling me 'unAmerican,'" Fulop said in response to Connors's cry of foul over Fulop's reaction to the Hudson County Democratic Organization's (HCDO) endorsement of Healy.

Connors said Fulop personally courted him for his backing then seethed publicly when he didn't get it.

An ex-Marine who pulled waritme duty in Iraq, Fulop focused on the name-calling in Connors's statement without deflecting the charge that he sought Connors's endorsement.

"Yes, my family is immigrants, yes my family owned a bodega, but I also volunteered to serve the country in the Marine Corps and yes I care deeply about the city and the way it is run and that is the reason that I am trying to change the status quo," Fulop fumed. "It is ludicrous to say I am unAmerican because I come from a family of immigrants that owned a bodega as I would point out that when I was serving in Iraq, they were padding their multiple public pensions here in Hudson County."