One-party rule in Trenton? It looks more like one party in crisis.

Trenton's trio of Democratic Party power brokers who run the Statehouse tried to put forward a confident, unified face Monday after the long drive to legalize marijuana stalled in the Senate. A scheduled vote on the bill was canceled when it became clear that supporters lacked the minimum 21 votes for it to pass.

In Gov. Phil Murphy's view, it was temporary setback on the long, inevitable road to passage. Right now, foes can only see the pot haze hovering over their downtowns, but eventually the light of reason will burn through, according to Murphy's reasoning.

"History is rarely made at the first attempt,'' said Murphy, a first-term Democrat, flanked by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, his longtime intraparty foe, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, who is often caught in the crossfire between the two. "History is often a bumpy road of fits and starts and setbacks," Murphy said late Monday after the vote was scuttled.

More:NJ legal weed vote canceled after lack of support, but 'this fight is not over'

That company line was also espoused by Sweeney, Coughlin and Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, the primary sponsor of the bill.

But no amount of professed unity could mask the political embarrassment all shared and deserved.

Perhaps in no other moment in recent state history has one party enjoyed so many advantages.

The Democrats have large majorities in both houses. They have a Democratic governor who made marijuana legalization a centerpiece of his 2017 campaign. They face a feeble Republican opposition. And a majority of voters support the measure, according to a recent Monmouth University Poll.

The vote to legalize marijuana should have been a slam-dunk. But on Monday, the triumvirate of Democratic Party power made excuses. They looked disorganized, lacking focus. Sweeney seemed unable to use his fabled ironworker muscle on his largely loyal caucus, while Murphy, who never before held elected office, stumbled with his on-the-job training. Coughlin, who claimed he had more than enough votes to spare in the Assembly, waited for the other two to act.

The fact is that the Democrats who backed legalization never had a coordinated lobbying strategy to combat misinformation and fear about the move until recently. Their persuasive effort rested mostly on a moral argument that outdated marijuana laws have unfairly and disproportionately plagued minorities even though the level of use among whites is the same.

But after a nearly two-year effort, advocates and lawmakers failed to assuage concerns of suburban Democratic lawmakers, uncomfortable about legalizing a drug amid the opioid crisis.

They had no compelling plan to ease the fears of urban lawmakers who scoff at the assurances of mostly white marijuana profiteers that legally available pot will not bring harm to minority children, and, in fact, might even help city neighborhoods prosper.

"I might have underestimated the challenge in getting this passed,” Sweeney said.

Instead of coordinating a lobbying plan, Murphy and Sweeney squabbled and governed on separate tracks. For long stretches, the two rarely met. Resentment over grievances rooted in the campaign festered. It drained time and energy away from the mission at hand. And now failure brought them together.

Sweeney pushed backed on the suggestion that they failed. He said the bill is a monumental, "life-changing" effort, like the same-sex marriage bill, which required legislators to discard long-held and long-discredited beliefs.

Sweeney also noted that New Jersey was taking the more difficult road to legalization through the Legislature. Among the 10 states and the District of Columbia that legalized marijuana, only Vermont took the same path. He also said the three leaders have spent plenty of time together in recent months hashing out the bill.

"We're not done here. If we give up and walk away, that would be one thing,'' Sweeney said. "But we're not."

Murphy, meanwhile, is learning on the fly. He left lawmakers and lobbyists in disbelief when he recently suggested that he would not indulge in the sordid art of horsetrading for votes, But Murphy then began "working the phones" last week when it became clear that the bill was in trouble.

Asked if he had now become more amenable to the transactional arts of Trenton, Murphy rambled and dodged, saying he had some of the "best" and "deepest" conversations with legislators. "And at every turn ... I was reminded of how unacceptable the status quo is,'' he replied.

Murphy apparently did a lot of listening, but apparently he is not yet willing to carve and serve the pork. Sen. Joseph Lagana, D-Bergen, was one who was leaning against the bill earlier in the week, but now remains open-minded.

In a call with Murphy last Tuesday, Lagana detailed his long pursuit of state aid for transportation funding, for a Route 17 bottleneck intersection in Rochelle Park, for getting the Paramus fire and police departments more aid to handle the hordes of shoppers who descend on the local malls during the shopping season.

"I think he understands the issues of my district and why these particular things are important to my constituents,'' Lagana said. But there was no deal, and for now, Lagana sits on the fence and waits.

"We didn’t really speak on that level as far as shaking hands and 'you got a deal,' " Lagana said. It was "OK, I understand what your concerns are and I think we should continue the discussion."

Murphy, Sweeney and Coughlin will be having a lot of discussion in the coming weeks, They will need it if they are going to get enough votes. And they'll need it to save face.

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