Still an establishment Democratic problem: Cory Booker, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden didn’t actively support Barbara Buono. President Obama only stepped out for Buono at the last minute. Chris Christie was awarded New Jersey by a state Democratic party that traded favor for benefit, local Democratic officials cowed bullying and national Democrats playing the long game for themselves. Too long. Leftward distinction from the 2016 primary field on Iraq war gave Barack Obama an in to primary victory. Buono should have been supported by any one of the 2016 hopefuls to at least prevent Christie from walking into the 2016 Republican presidential primary unscathed. That fight against Christie the bully would be a virtue for any 2016 hopeful.

National Dems are personally lucky Christie is embroiled in this scandal of his own making, but did the rest of the party (especially New Jerseyans) no favors. It seems Christie may have hobbled his 2016 chances, but as governor he can still stop Democratic initiatives like building a state exchange for Obamacare, distributing Sandy relief funds or signing the marriage equality bill passed by the state legislature. For Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, these should have been worthy enough reasons for him to risk some political capital supporting Buono and the wishes of his party’s primary voters. Buono wasn’t the best candidate is the boilerplate excuse. Buono was never given the chance to get better by the establishment after being deemed the best by Democratic primary voters. They showed a serious distrust of an electorate who deemed Buono the best candidate available which is what every primary mandate amounts to.

Establishment Democrats consistently forget they can still win the middle of the electorate, the perpetual undecided, by not being ashamed of being a Democrat even when they may lose.