Ferriero in Denver, and after

He cut an unprepossessing figure as he made the rounds of open bar fiestas and happy hours in Denver, hobnobbing with the governor here, buttonholing some bigshot fundraiser there.

He smiled through the whispers and rumors.

But at the Democratic National Convention last month, bad feelings inevitably saturated the atmosphere of powerhouse Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Ferriero, the man who likens the make-up of his county organization to the way the ingredients go together in Coca-Cola.

The news that FBI agents stormed his office came just days before the start of the convention, prompting state Democratic leaders to field uncomfortable questions about Ferriero even as they were packing their bags and hightailing it for the upscale Inverness Hotel.

State Party Chairman Joseph Cryan told the media he wouldn’t ask the embattled party boss to stay home, and so there was Ferriero in Denver.

Never a big fan of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the powerful Democratic Party boss backed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in the party’s presidential primary.

Other bosses marveled at his chutzpah when he offered Obama his endorsement in exchange for veto power over federal judges.

Obama turned him down, but that went down in party insider circles as what a story. What guts, said at least one of Ferriero’s counterparts ensconced in the upper echelons of party power.

But at least one other, North Ward Democratic Party leader Steve Adubato, criticized Ferriero for the way the latter bungled his endorsement of U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Ill.) for United State Senate.

Adubato unequivocally endorsed Andrews, while Ferriero hesitated, then backed down from opposing incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) when U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-Union City) and U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) leaned on him.

Adubato said he and his people backed the ill-fated Andrews out of principle, while Ferriero made his decision from the standpoint of political expediency.

News of Ferriero’s capsize today when U.S. Attorney Chris Christie officially hit him with corruption charges in a case going back three years, reached South Jersey with no big exclamation point. Sources close to party boss George Norcross III wouldn’t comment on the matter, but didn’t deliver any heartfelt words of brothers in arms, either.

With county control in his hands but Obama ultimately no deal-maker in Bergen, the presidential election - less than two months away - appeared to carry no overwhelming emotion for Ferriero.

Sources close to the party leader in Denver said not only didn’t he like Obama as a candidate, but didn’t think he would win.

Pressed about that, Ferriero wouldn’t comment. He smiled and made his way through the crowd at the Palms, at a party hosted by fundraiser Michael Kempner.

The Star-Ledger would report in another week that Ferriero was the subject of a probe into allegations that he assaulted a woman on Labor Day weekend after he returned from the Democratic National Convention.

Republicans who heard the news in Minneapolis-St. Paul clinked glasses on their last night and tossed off drinks in memory of their long-time political foe.

But today’s story buried that story, and tomorrow Ferriero is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate to hear the indictment read against him and what happens between then and Nov. 4th means more stories - and probably not good - for the Democratic Party in Bergen, which once practically belonged to Ferriero.