John Crowley addresses members of the New Jersey delegation on the river boat.: Politicker photo

MINNEAPOLIS - It started like a scene in a movie where guests receive a mysterious invitation from a powerful benefactor. On the bus trip out to the Mississippi River, a lot of Republicans were wondering, "Who is John Crowley?"

There was another less flashy, more intimate New Jersey political meeting going on simultaneously in another corner of the sprawling Minnesota town where Republicans had converged for their national convention, but for the moment this boat covered with red, white and blue bunting was a captivating focal point for the New Jersey GOP procession answering their invitations to see Crowley.

Crowley. Princeton businessman. Owner of a biotech company engaged in finding a cure for a disease Crowley’s children have fought since birth. Millionaire. Navy intelligence officer. Presumptive GOP political star.

Republicans knew the lineaments of the story; still, everyone was speaking the name without knowing the why beyond the boat trip and the vague possibility that Crowley would challenge Gov. Jon Corzine for governor next year.

Coming off the bus, former Gov. Thomas Kean led the way down the gangplank as the jug band started in on a tune and a paranoid Jersey guy told the governor, "As long as you’re here, I know I’m not too far from home."

Kean laughed heartily, and soon all of the guests were aboard the river boat, forming two lines up to a table where food was piled high, or making a rush for one of two bars: one in the enclosed lower cabin, and one topside in the open air where the unimposing St. Paul skyline stood on the other side of the darkening waters.

"Thank you for your good work," state Sen. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Union) called to a passing Coast Guard vessel, nodding with the wave that came in return from one of the sailors.

Soon their host would arrive.

"I don’t know him, I’ve never seen him, who is he?" wondered former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield. "No one knows him."

"Nobody knew Corzine before he ran for governor," said Kean.

"I knew him," Hatfield protested. "He lived in Summit. I knew his wife. I knew his kids. Crowley? I wouldn’t know him if I ran into him right now."

Bill Spadea appeared with his wife on his arm.

Spadea, blasted out by U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-Princeton) when he challenged the sitting congressman a few years back, now serves as president of "Building the New Majority," a grassroots political organization whose honorary chairman is Crowley.

The faces in the crowd here - Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore, the Keans, Morris County Freeholder John Murphy - were offset by those Republicans who weren’t here.

As Crowley welcomed these Republicans who might have backed him in a bid for U.S. Senate, others - state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), U.S. Attorney Chris Christie’s brother Todd, GOP power player Bill Palatucci and more Republicans - huddled in a St. Paul restaurant discussing their own plans - apparently - for a Christie gubernatorial candidacy.

Obama versus McCain on the big scale was secondary to what was taking shape at this Republican National Convention on the state level: Christie versus Crowley for governor.

Maybe.

"I have no plans to run for governor," Crowley insisted to PolitickerNJ.com as he worked the hands of the guests that crowded the river boat.

He faced the crowd of about 125 on the river boat: State GOP Party Chairman Tom Wilson, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose (R-Franklin), Murphy, and others, mostly lower level delegates.

Hurricane Gustav had hit land in the deep south. The area would have to be rebuilt.

"Support the charities, give to United Way and the American Red Cross," Crowley told the gorged guests.

That exhortation over, Crowley turned to national politics.

"We are so excited about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and he will be our next president," he said. ""We should be proud to have a genuine American hero leading out ticket next year."

He again tried to quell the idea that he would run for governor next year, downplayed his 11th hour bid for U.S. Senate last year, which ended abruptly when he announced that his business couldn’t lose him to the demands of a prolonged campaign.

"For us it just wasn’t the time," said Crowley. "The Republican Party has so much energy. There are people on this boat who are going to lead this party tonight."

The younger Kean.

What was he doing there? His designs on higher office were no mystery. Either he was preparing to run at some future date and needed to understand the potential private enterprise threat, or a deal was in the offing: maybe Kean backs Crowley if Crowley pulls the trigger on a 2009 run in exchange for Crowley’s support in a Kean-Menendez rematch.

Or something else.

"No comment," said Kean.

The delegation was scattered. State Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex), chair of the Republican chairmen, walked into the Hilton Hotel with his family and took a seat at a table next to former Gov. Christie Todd Whitman.

"I wasn’t at the river boat party," said the senator. "And I wasn’t with the Christie party either. I got in late with my family."

Members of the delegation returned from the hour-long boat trip. Converging in the Hilton bar with those party members were Christie and Palatucci, and there was a sense here in Minneapolis of players lining up, or making battle preparations for governor 2009.