Booker charms Wisconsin Democrats for Clinton

WAUKESHA, Wis. - Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) took out his iPhone and turned two dozen Hillary Clinton field volunteers, cheering and arguing about how to pronounce the name of their county, into a "snap," a slice of life on Snapchat.

They would be famous for 10 seconds, the lifetime of a post on the social-media platform.

But in a real way, Booker told the workers Thursday, they were part of something much more enduring.

They were not merely mobilizing to make phone calls and knock on doors for Clinton in one of Wisconsin's most Republican counties. No, Booker said Thursday, they were taking their place alongside suffragists, abolitionists, and civil rights marchers.

"It's rooms like this, my parents told me, that changed this country - where people come together and plot and plan to make a contribution," Booker said, looking around the small county Democratic headquarters in the ground floor of a wood-frame house.

"My family called it a conspiracy of love," he said.

Clinton is locked in a tight race with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ahead of Tuesday's primary here, and Booker was in the state to campaign for her in Waukesha and Racine and for two stops in African American neighborhoods of Milwaukee.

He posed for a lot of selfies, a trademark of the senator known for his persona on Twitter and his enthusiastic adoption of Snapchat. Booker's star turn as a leading surrogate for Clinton has raised his political profile, even inspiring talk he'd be a good choice for vice president. (He won't go there.)

"He's a rising star in our party, and I'm excited to see where he ends up," said Kristin Hansen, a Clinton volunteer. "I think there's a place for him in a Hillary administration. I don't know what, exactly, but it will be a stepping-stone to something bigger. We haven't seen the last of Cory Booker."

Booker, the former mayor of Newark, humble-bragged that he was a dumb jock who earned a football scholarship to Stanford, but Hillary Clinton? "Of all the geniuses I've encountered, all the smart people I've encountered . . . I'm blown away by her understanding of issues," he said. She's ready to be president, he added.

Khary Penebaker, the Democrats' underdog candidate for U.S. House here against a 38-year GOP incumbent, said Booker was his hero.

"He's so inspiring, and he makes his points without bringing other people down - no vitriol," said Penebaker, 38, who owns a roofing company.

Booker wasn't going to escape Waukesha unscathed, however.

He called on a man in the last row for one final question. "As a future vice presidential candidate," the man began, and the room erupted in laughter and applause. Booker put his arm around the local Clinton field organizer and pointed to her.

"I'm not done," the man said when the room quieted. "That was just to soften it up a little bit . . . and as a friend of the governor of New Jersey, has your opinion of Chris Christie increased or decreased since his endorsement of Donald Trump?"

Booker didn't really answer. "We are all mountain ranges - we all have peaks; we all have valleys," he said. "I focus on his peaks, and where we have points of agreement and can work together. We're still friends."

So Christie's Trump endorsement was a valley? the man asked. "You're worse than the reporters," Booker joked.

tfitzgerald@phillynews.com

215-854-2718@tomfitzgerald

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