Whatever happened to Barbara Buono? Former N.J. gov candidate alive and tweeting

Barbara Buono, remember her?

She's the former New Jersey Senate majority leader who left the legislature to challenge incumbent Chris Christie for Drumthwacket — that's what the governor's mansion is actually called in Jersey.

She lost badly, by 22 percent of the vote despite being the Democratic candidate in a very blue state, and then quickly disappeared from the public spotlight.

Well, not completely.

Buono, 61, a mother of six from Middlesex County, is an avid tweeter. And since she's no longer a full-time politician, her Twitter account isn't littered with photos showing suits in hard hats holding shovels or links to press releases touting the newest employment numbers.

Hers is the more common style: observational stream of consciousness.

That style was in full effect during Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards when Buono tweeted throughout the red carpet appearances and beginning of the show to her 7,084 followers, including the numerous interactions she had with fellow tweeters.

When Katy Perry appeared on the carpet, Buono showed off her snark:

Then, a couple minutes later, during another celebrity's entrance:

When the show eventually began at 9 p.m., Buono fired off three quick appraisals of early performers:

Alas, the VMAs could not hold her interest for long. Within half an hour, Buono was ready to call it a night:

It's hard to figure out what exactly Buono, an attorney, is doing these days — other than tweeting, of course. Messages left for her Monday were not immediately returned. A worker at the New Jersey Democratic State Committee said she was unsure if they had any way of reaching Buono. She promised "to ask around the office."

One thing is for sure, Buono seems to be enjoying her time away from the pulls of politics.

Buono took a trip to Scotland earlier this month (documented by her tweets). And a few weeks ago, she tweeted what amounted to a retired politician's sigh of relief: