With 33 days to go before the general gubernatorial election, it almost feels like a primary, with Democrats warring Democrats.

Vital party territory - Essex County - treads at the edge of civil war in the aftermath of state Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney's (D-West Deptford) professed lock-up of two state senators from the home turf of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland).

But as Codey fights on, Sweeney from his base in South Jersey refuses to take any blame for exploding their backroom rivalry into the public sphere and further pitting Codey against Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, who employs those two pro-Sweeney senators.

"I was looking to move beyond it by making the announcement now that I have 14 votes," said Sweeney. "My main purpose is Jon Corzine's reelection. I've been up and down this state, helping the governor with debate preps, and speaking before different groups. It's Dick Codey who kept fanning the flames. I got 14 votes, now he's trying to leverage and pressure people.

"I like and respect Dick," Sweeney added. "Dick's great."

However, none of the other 13 senators who support him for the senate presidency have called him and told him to remove their names from his confirmed list following yesterday's full-blown rollout.  

"I've got 14 of 23 senators," Sweeney said.

Home to the state's largest number of registered Democratic voters, Essex is arguably Corzine's most important county. Although right now that political landscape features a toe-to-toe between the wounded Codey and a county executive who says he's only "putting Essex first" by throwing in with Sweeney, the senate majority leader insists the drama is "inside baseball" and will have no negative impact on gubernatorial politics.

"Essex County will do the job they've always done," said Sweeney. "Unfortunately, Dick is trying to create a civil war up there. There's a chance here (in Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) for Essex to have the first African American woman as speaker."

Codey sources say self-preservation and the good of the state in the face of a South Jersey takeover motivate the sitting Senate President, who won't concede defeat and earlier today issued a rleease of local mayors who support him.

Asked today if he would run against DiVincenzo next year in an all-Essex primary battle in retaliation for the DiVincenzo-Sweeney alliance, Codey said he was not ready to go there or comment on such a scenario. 

A stand-in for Christie during Corzine's debate prep, Sweeney said he likes Christie personally, but panned the GOP candidate's campaign.

"He hasn't given any answers," said Sweeney, hours before the Republican's NJN square-off with Corzine. "The race has tightened because voters have gotten to know Chris a little better and what they've seen has pushed them back into the Democratic Party's column. They know no one's cutting taxes with an $8 billion deficit. Chris is in a tough spot. He called himself a conservative in the Republican Primary and a lot of independents don't like that."