The official word in New Jersey is that Jon Corzine will be back as Governor in a few days or a week, but that official word is undercut by statements by medical personnel and Corzine's own family as to how badly he has been hurt.

So, for an uncertain period of time, State Senate President Richard Codey--who briefly served as Acting Governor after Christine Todd Whitman resigned to became director of the Environmental Protection Agency and served for over a year as Acting Governor after Jim McGreevey stepped down--will return to his now familiar role. But it will be complicated by the fact that Governor Corzine is still in charge with his own appointees.

Back in 1993, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Mark Singel served as Acting Governor for about a year as Governor Robert P. Casey, Sr. underwent heart and lung transplants and battled various diseases. Like Acting Governor Codey today, Acting Governor Singel was both helped and frustrated by being in charge of the team but together by Casey, and loyal to him.

Singel's frustration was great because Caey was a lame duck, and Singel very much wanted to have a record that he could build on to run for Governor himself in 1994. But staff loyalty to Casey pretty much limited Singel's role to a caretaker until Casey came back to take over for an extremely restive Singel at the end of 1993.

The Singel-Casey tensions lasted a long time. Casey was missing in action in Singel's race for Governor in 1994 and in Senator Harris Wofford's 1994 re-election bid against Rick Santorum. When Bob Casey, Jr. ran for Auditor General in 1996, Singel, then Democratic State Chairman, was for Casey opponent Tom Foley. Singel supported Rendell over Casey, Jr. in 2002, and explored seeking the Senate seat that Casey won in 2006.

Singel believed that the best thing Casey could have done for the Democratic Party--and for Singel--was simply to resign as Governor and let Singel take over. Pride, determination, and loyalty to his appointees and his allies stopped Casey from doing so.

With Corzine, the plot is perhaps even thicker with potential intrigue. Codey would have liked to run for Governor himself in 2005, but was stopped by Corzine's tens of millions of dollars to spend and the loyalty of many Democratic county chairs to Corzine and his cash.

So now Codey will walk gingerly between leading the Corzine Administration and projecting his own views. He still has the Senate Democrats to be accountable to. He now has his own constituency around New Jersey as well; he gained great popularity during his last stint as Acting Governor.

How this will all play out is anyone's guess. So is whether Corzine, Codey, or someone else will be the Democratic Nominee for Governor in 2009.