As expected, there were no bands playing, no balloons falling and no victory speeches piped through the loud speakers in a crowded ballroom for Herbert Shaw.

After all, the 81-year-old state Senate candidate from Hudson County lost — again.

Shaw may have failed, but no one can accuse him of failing to try. He’s been running for all sorts of public offices every year for the past five decades.

“My motive is revenge,” the 32nd District candidate said prior to today’s election.

Running on his perennial platform “Politicians Are Crooks,” the retired operating engineer was hoping to pull off an upset over Sen. Nicholas Sacco (D-Hudson) today. Instead, he got trounced not only by Sacco but also by Republican challenger Edward O’Neill.

According to the unofficial results announced tonight, Sacco collected 15,786 votes, O’Neill drew 3,169 votes and Shaw finished in last place with only 504 votes.

When broken down by percentages, Sacco got 81 percent of the votes, O’Neill got 16 percent and Shaw got 3 percent.

During his 50-year political career, Shaw has been a candidate for North Bergen commissioner, Hudson County executive, Hudson County sheriff, state Assembly, state Senate and U.S. Senate.

(Source: Bergen Record)