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Jason Reed / REUTERS
Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker addresses delegates during the first session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, September 4, 2012.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Newark Mayor Cory Booker on Thursday gave another hint that his political future could involve a run for governor in the Garden State.
The New Jersey Democrat assured the LGBT caucus (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) gathered here at the Democratic National Convention that a marriage-equality bill would soon pass in the state, and it could be his signature that enacts it into law.
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"I’m telling you right now, it’s not a matter of if we’re going to win marriage-equality in New Jersey," Booker said. "It’s a matter of when we’re going to win it. And I know in my heart of hearts, if God is willing, I will be there on that day that bill is signed. I might even have a very good seat when it gets done.”
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In recent months, rumors have swirled that Booker could be interested in facing off against current New Jersey governor and rising star of the Republican party, Chris Christie. The men are friendly -- and even made a parody YouTube video together earlier this year -- but Booker's remark today may be further proof that the prominent mayor would not back down from squaring off against Christie.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker energetically outlines the new National Democratic Party platform.
During the DNC this week, Booker's name has even been mentioned as a possible contender for the White House in 2016, though that would be a difficult thing to pull off. If he were to win the governorship -- no easy task against a so far fairly popular Christie -- he would only be in office a year and a half before he would have to start campaigning for the Democratic presidential primary.
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It would also be crass for Booker to appear to be looking like he was thinking about running for president and leaving the job of governor even before he had it.
Booker has spoken to the delegations of important primary and caucus states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Booker was swarmed by admiring Democrats after his speech to Granite State delegates Thursday morning, hoping for pictures and a chance to shake his hand.
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Booker was even more well received later Thursday when he spoke to the LGBT caucus.
"I'm at home," he said to thunderous applause when he took the stage. "When it comes to movements for justice in the United States of America, this room is full of heroes each and every one of you.”
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He related the struggles of African Americans, Irish and Jews to the hurdles the gay community now faces.
"Hatred is hatred," Booker said. "Bigotry is bigotry. And we need to wake up America to understand that inequality is inequality. Every person who says I am a citizen of the United States of America should have equal citizenship rights."
Booker took the stage shortly after Second Lady Jill Biden, who had similar praise for President Obama's support for gay rights.
Leave a Comment:
I don't see any reason he shouldn't!
I don't care who runs against Governor Krispy Cream, they need to remove that bombastic, blow-hard, bastard from office!
He's temper is a disgrace, which is one of the reasons he's a hero amongst tea-baggers!
Uh OH!
Looks like Lyin Ryan got caught with his hands in the cookie jar again;
If Snookie and Snookie Jo are any reflection of the voters in N.J., they will re-elect him into office. They apparently love getting a hefty pounding, er-um, punch in the face.
We won't survive another 4 years of this bonzo. Send him back to wherever he came from, His whole demeanor, talk, philosophies and actions are a CROCK of brown smelly stuff. OMG-ObamaMustGo
Feisty, don't you live in Roselle, a community that is 90% white? Tea baggers is a gay term. Do you have something against gays, or blacks, or Latinos? Get a job you ignorant filth.
Once again, perhaps we'd take you more seriously if you didn't treat this election as "End Of Days".
Feisty, LYIN is such a big phony balony.
All recent Presidents have used stimulus money to kickstart the economy.
But after voting for the Bush stimulus, Ryan voted in GOP lockstep against President Obama's stimulus...because they wanted to block the President from improving our economy.
And then, like a lot of GOPsters, Ryan asked for $millions of dollars of that stimulus money for Wisconsin.
When caught out, he blamed HIS STAFF - that had to read all his Ayn Rand books.
heed Noids advice, you should look upon it as the golden age of mankind, you know how effective Obama was his first term.
Joe Thomas - wow - weren't you the one talking about your God on another post and you post what you just did about Feisty? Wow - just Wow. Bet you call yourself a good Christian too, don't ya?
Obama/Biden 2012
Stupid @!$%# eating politicians just keep sucking up to the special interest groups instead of taking care of the United States as the great country it once was.
Booker is very brave to consider running for governor of NJ. There is the real and present danger that Christie might eat him.
Sailcat - okay - that one caught me off guard. Sitting at my desk laughing out loud!!!
Will he cook him first????
It's hard to say, Seeking. After all, Christie is not a gourmet, just a glutton.
yes!!! send old fat a$$ back to Twinkie land! All 400 lbs. of him.....
All I can add to this is that I'd never heard of the man before his speech at the DNC. After his wonderful speech, if I lived in New Jersey, I would definitely support a man with his passion to represent me.
Best of luck and GO FOR IT CORY BOOKER!!!!!
Personally, I hope Booker does run; and win.
One less person from the GNOP holding office is the step in the right direction for this country.
We need less people purposely sabotaging this country in the name of their political party. For the past 4 years that is exactly what the GNOP has been openly doing.
But more than that, the party of NO has brought this country to it;s knees with their laws and thoughts when they held the presidency under Bush. We can not go back to their failed policies and move forward as a country.
We need forward thinking people in office and Booker is just another example.
Vote to rid ourselves of as many republicans from office as possible. This election is not just about re-electing our great president. it is also about ridding the country of the failures of the republican party who refuse to help the average person live a better life.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012 AND AS MANY DEMOCRATS AS POSSIBLE AT THE LOCAL LEVELS!!!!!
Booker is a superstar and would make an amazing governor. I wish they would bring back the "Dump Christie" bumper stickers from the old Christie Whitman disaster.
The only unhappy people in NJ are the unions that control the Governemt , suck the money from the taxpayers and the mafia run by Democrats. Everybody else is happy. NJ is much better now. New Jersey is majority Democrat but they are not stupid they knew that NJ like Wisconsin , Virginia, New Mexico are much better with Republicans. Scott Walker won over the radical left. If Christie got recall , he will win also. Unions want another Corzine to take back the control.
Blaa, blaa BLaa, wwUNTNTA, wwUNTAAA....picture Charlie Brown's teacher!!!!
bozoHUSSAN & Clinton just don't know when to Shut UP!!! Never-ending teleprompter reading!!!
Eastwood got it right in 10 minutes...term limits?? We the people need relief from teleprompter abuse!! All you crazies in DC, WE hired you, WE pay your check, you can NOT do the job, NOW WE are gonna FIRE you!!...No whining somebody else is to blame. NO whining for a incomplete,.. YOU failed !!!
GET IT..,stupid....YOU FAILED, WE now want someone who will do the job!!!
The short version of Bozo HUSSAN's speech, 4 years ago..YES WE CAN...
4 YEARS later...NO ONE CAN!!!...WHAAA, WHAAAaa, WHAAAA!!
Getting that bulbous blow hard out of NJ would be the best thing that ever happened. My property taxes have skyrocketed since arbuckle has been the governor and we already had the highest property taxes in the nation. My house in NJ is valued at $164,000 dollars and my taxes are now $10,000 a year, yes a year - a 60% increase since this loop job took office. The platform this liar ran on was to control property taxes???? Really??? Mean while he gives away a billion dollars in tax welfare to his millionaire donors. We cannot afford this clown any more get him the F out of this state quick. Park him on the beach somewhere and his wife can flip twinkies in his fat blow hole for the rest of his life. That should keep him quiet....at least for a little while!!
the man is a fat slob and an embarrassment to the state and country. Happy the clown has more of a chance than him. Look at the money they would save on food
Christi is extremely popular and is unbeatable. No amount of fascist propaganda will change that.
My parent house only increase 2.4 % this year , the lowest in 20 years
G-Man you must be the 1 %.
Has Feisty always been a Democratic ass-kissing handout whore?
Oskar, if you are not a troll you need to take a look around you.
The ONLY person I have run into who likes Christie was a college freshman who lives in the same very wealthy community Christie is from, and has been managing his stock portfolio since he was a young teenager. That's the 1%
The rest of us are not at all happy with Christie. We are finding that our property taxes are going up because Christie has cut funding to communities and that's the only way our communities can make up the difference.
There is still some infrastructure work going on, but most of us who drive in NJ are encountering more crumbling pavement and unfilled potholes. Local governments and county governments tend to be strapped.
Yes, union workers are unhappy. They are also taxpayers, just like people who do not belong to unions. You know, the more taxpayers earn the more they can contribute -- conversely, with increasing unemployment and underemployment, and with the decrease in union-defended jobs and resultant lower income, the state takes in less. Not a good scenario.
EVERYBODY does better when everybody does better. Yes to unions. No to fake 'austerity' measures that enrich the 1% and hurt the rest of us.
Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL
and your Venom and Trailer park attitude and uncouth behavior is a hit amonst the low info voters we call liberals. I can see why you're a hit amongs the flock of barbarians, sheppard
PIZZA! PIZZA!
The problem you're having with my collegue and compatriot Feisty is the fact that WE Lliberals have had enough of the GOP/TP coming out of the mouth saying some of the most vilest of @!$%# for the past four years, STARTING with Mitch McConnell stating that he AND the rest of the GOP/TP would do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING to see to that Presiddent Obama fails in his first term by not compromising.
Believe you me: I could go ALL OVER the internet finding the VILEST @!$%# that you Conservatives have said about this president, minorities, women, LGBTs AND public and union workers that it would make one's head swim...BUT WE DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF TIME!!!!!
However, it would NOT be wise to put me to the test.
exactly! If that isn't traitorous, what is?? Add to that the fact that TEApublicans are basing the whole presidential campaign on lies and vote fixing. GET THESE UN-AMERICAN GOONS OUT OF THERE!!!!!
Hey Haggis and Kevin,
You think you would expect something different from the gop after the bush/cheney regime nose dived ours and the world economies into the ground after deregulating wall street and turning the big banks into casinos. But now with their obstruction they are just doubling down on their crimes. Not a surprise that they are now commonly referred to as " The American Taliban". That moniker describes them perfectly!!!!
Feisty is no Catholic nun...
Booker vs. Christie? It certainly wouldn't be boring.
I was disappointed in my Liberal colleagues on First Read earlier today. There was a thread introduced in the morning where JoannaSmith1 baited all of you and got you off topic. She started talking about the change of venue and (very skillfully I might add) led all of you off the attack. Excellent work as a troll. Take a bow JoannaSmith. She had all of you going out for weather forecasts, and obsessing over that.
Remember Karl Rove's playbook for Conservative Blogging? I think these are rules #4 and #5.
Attack
Attack the source. Any Liberal website or information source must be marginalized, trivialized and discounted. Let the blogosphere know that "Truthout.org", "thinkprogress.org", "the nation" and "moveon.org" are Liberal rubbish propaganda. Discredit Liberal sources of information whenever possible.
Confuse
Challenge the Liberal position with questions, always questions. The questions need not be relevant. The goal is to knock the Liberal poster off their game, and seize control of the narrative. Once you have control you can direct the narrative to where you want it to go, which is always away from letting the Liberal make their point. Conversely, do not respond to their leading questions. Don't rise to their bait.
Live and learn. Go back at her tomorrow and kick her butt.
Sorry GOP,
The master-baiter didn't suck me into her plot! ☺
Been there, done that with the old broad.
Did you notice WCA spinning in a frenzy trying to do the same thing with the "God Squad"?
Some of JAS posts are just too inane to warrant a response......
Gotta concede that point Chilled. She was doing virtual yoga postures in an attempt to twist and pervert the news into some type of anti-Progressive screed. Her attempts at association were getting more than a little strained.
I'm sure some readers noticed that even she was struggling with this one. You guys are always soooooo gratifying to read during the day as I tune in at work. Though I can't respond I am still rooting for you.
or is it because it isnt grunts and moans, you're native liberal dialect?
Woah Augustus!!!
Punctuate much?
If not my 6th grader can help you out.
even a lack of punctuation is light years above the Cro Magnon liberals
GOPisextinct - not only punctuation but total word usage.
CA - apparently it isn't above us since we caught it!
Obama/Biden 2012
Oh look...poor Little "caesar" is looking for another internet ass-handing...Anna Molly handed him his ass in a sack yesterday so he could show all his friends.
And to think, out of the whole bunch, he's the one with the "big brain"...isn't that right, taxman?
Sure it is...you know it is...
Keep sticking your hands in the propellor, "caesar"...
PIZZA! PIZZA!
Yes I did Feisty!! And I noticed you did not rise to the bait. :o) You wasn't buying what she was sellin'. Well done.
WCA was foaming at the mouth too. Chump was going at the "you-don't-stand-by-your-convictions" meme. Challenging manhood is always a reliable distraction, and WCA's use of it belies a lack of testicular tissue itself. :o)
See the jobs reports today?
If you're speaking of ADP's report, then, yes, I posted a link to it earlier today.
Who called that slob Christie a "RISING REPUBLICAN STAR"! They must be NUTS! He might be a FALLING STAR but he sure as hell isn't a RISING STAR! He better stay in his OWN BACK YARD & clean up his "PEOPLE'S RISING UNEMPLOYMENT STAR" that's WHAT'S REALLY RISING!
I hear the doughnut producers are relocating there. Dukin' Donuts is recalling a plant from China just to service Christie.
A few more years and they'll need one of those twin-rotor, military choppers to drop him at his kid's baseball games. You know. The ones they haul tanks with.
GOPisextinct -actually, Christie was on Jimmy Fallon this week and I have to admit was a good sport. In his opening monologue Fallon was talking about a Ginormous burger - something like 2000 lbs - that was cooked for a record book. He made some comment about who would even eat a burger like that then said "we'll ask Governor Christie when he comes out."
Christie came out and was using a toothpick - said the burger was good!
Wouldn't want him for governor but at least he has some sense of humor!
Uh oh. Feisty double posted. Watch her guppies swim to her posts. What a bunch of silly people. Feisty spews her venom at Romney, but never addresses why people should give HUSSEIN 4 more years. One thing is certain. Feisty has no job, and most likely is unemployable. That means she lives off the taxpayers, in a community that is 90% white, and 8% Asian. Guess she hates blacks, Latinos, and most likely gays, since she uses the slang term tea bagger so much.
Joe, you ever consider getting help for the obsession you have with someone you don't know? It really isn't healthy.
newday - nothing about Joe is healthy!
Joe ..... you sound like you dont like black people.
I am also hearing Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage may be on the short list to challenge Christie
Amazing how far you can take
a staged fire rescue in today's
politics.
Why not run Cory? NJ needs a governor that doesn't come accross as some thug or hit man for the Mafia.
Have you been watching the Democratic National Apology?
Is your house worth more today, than it was four
years ago? Do you owe less on your credit cards
today than you did four years ago? Not counting
executive bonuses, do you earn more money today than
you did four years ago? Do you have more money in
the bank than you did four years ago? Have you been promoted in the last four years, not just a new job title, but a real promotion? Not counting executive bonuses, have you had a raise in the last four years? Jay Leno can't answer yes to all of these
questions, can you?
Do you know anyone who has lost a home, a car or a
job in the last four years? Are you tired of hearing excuses for Joe Biden and Barack Obama?
Isn't it time America had a president we don't have to apologize for?
If Republicans fail, we lose Billions.
If Obamacrats fail we lose Trillions.
It's time to cut our losses.
Poor Jerry...so out of touch, so...ignorant...
jerry,where have You Been for the past 8 years?... perhaps the Truth is just to hard for you to understand..
Booker is hot!! Just had to say that.
On another topic, can we lay off the Chris christie fat jokes? Jeez, it's like a bunch of 7th graders picking on someone's appearance. Let's face it. Christie looks like most Americans.
Yes, I know I just objectified Cory booker and then chided people for picking on someone else for his appearance. What can I say- I'm complicated like that.
geee , lets bring the rest of jersey into a newark slum !! rather have the fat slob Chris Christie then Booker
New Jersey needs to get rid of that right wing nutjob Christina Christie. Auctually I'am sure the republican have a weight limit to be governor or any political office. That is how outrageous their thinking is. Go Christina, leave, good bye:-)
Vote Democrat every election.
Jerry450822: Your mom wants you to go to bed now, drink your milk and eat your cookies. Good night. We know you love that lieing Romney and we don't care just get your A$$ to bed. Hope you have nightmares.
O&Joe 2012
Am sure Booker will have no problem winning...
Just don't get confused on how the workload breaks down...
99% of your workload is for everyday working class "You People"
1% is for the Other People, the ones that keep their money in "Offshore Bank Accounts" wear a small "US Flag on their Suits" and are always Professing their Patrioti$m...
Newark is such a lovely and charming city (if you're into slums and ghettos). Perhaps if he's elected he'll make all of NJ just as lovely and charming as Newark and Detroit and Baltimore and so many others due to Democratic rule.
You're right Einstein(yabecoo), if those republicans keep laying off all the public workers(police officers, fire fighters, etc.) in those cities what the hell do you think you're gonna get??? You teabag republicans are beyond simpletons. Christie put more than half the Camden, NJ police force in the unemployment line and not only did the unemployment rate rise the city is a lot less safe. Republicans don't give a rats rear end about the inner cities anywhere in the USA because those people don't support the gop corporate whore one percenters. You connies never cease to amaze me!!!!!!
New Jersey needs to get rid of that right wing heart attack in the wings Christina Christie. Actually the republicans should have a weight limit to be governor or any political office. This is how outrageous their thinking is. Christina, get a side of beef with spaghetti and throw your gangster tantrums on someone who is afraid of your Halloweenish rhetoric.
Vote Democrat this election.
.
A Ryan vs BFD Biden would reveal just how stupid BFD Biden is when it comes to understanding debt! Also, I would like to see a debate with Ryan vs Barney Frank.
However, the Ryan/Frank debate would never happen because I understand Barney has been jilted by his companion and is considering on dating Debbie Wasserman Schultz. There are some real issues here that must be worked out prior to any debate with Paul Ryan.
It has been reported the popular Fiesty on this site is going to be appointed to take Sandra Fluke's spot on the demorcratic ticket for the left wing nut of the century!
Does anyone really think Booker would stand a "snowball's chance in hell" against Christie? Yes NJ is a blue state. But you have a Republican governor with over a 60% approval rating in the last poll. Who has solved what was one of the worst budget problems of any state in the country. Probably the most charismatic political figure in the country. I would love to see that debate.
Christie has helped Jersey.
Booker has helped Newark, which was a horrible mess after Sharpe James got through with it.
Any state would be lucky to have either one as Governor. Having two competent candidates would make for an exciting and unique race.