The Democratic senator on the Judiciary Committee who gave us "bring it" in releasing committee confidential documents, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is ready to bring on the challenge of a 2020 run, assuming he can rally skeptical liberals.
"Of course the presidency will be something I consider," Booker told New York magazine's Daily Intelligencer. "It would be irresponsible not to.”
Booker, 49, was one of three finalists to be Hillary Clinton's running mate in 2016 and Clinton senior adviser Nick Merrill initially was not convinced as he might be now, he told the magazine.
"From afar, he never really did it for me," Merrill told Daily Intelligencer. "I find the constant snapping in Senate hearings to be a little ridiculous, and the opposite of authentic.
"Then I saw him up close and was converted. He's incredibly impressive."
Booker, a former tight end for Stanford University's football team, is an imposing figure physically, even if he has yet to shoulder the load for the Democratic Party.
"He's definitely in that top tier of people, but he doesn't have people in his corner," a veteran Democratic strategist told the Daily Intelligencer. "He very much came up through the traditional political pathways — he was for Wall Street before he was against it — and though he's taken a lot of positions that, in conventional thinking, aligned him with the progressive wing of the party, the question is: Why him, why now?"
Booker has also worked on initiatives with Republicans like former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., per the report, and The Atlantic published a story during his 2013 Senate run, headlined: "Why Do Liberals Hate Cory Booker?"
"He has always made an attempt to reach across the aisle in a way that can get on your nerves if you're in the middle of an all-out blood battle trying to crush the other side," Oscar-nominated documentary "Street Fight" director Marshall Curry told Daily Intelligencer.
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