Cory Booker tells Oprah Winfrey he can't visualize running for president
Touching on a range of topics from his political future, to his eating habits to his hyper-publicized rescue of a neighbor from a burning building earlier this year, Newark Mayor Cory Booker made an hour-long appearance on Oprah Winfrey's "Oprah's Next Chapter" tonight.
While the interview handled a wide-range of issues, and provided some further insight into the constant speculation that Booker may seek higher office, producers said the show was taped in April and therefore did not deal with the mayor's attack last week on President Obama's re-election campaign or his subsequent walk-back on YouTube.
When asked if he would someday run for president Booker hedged.
"No, its not something I can visualize right now," Booker said adding "I dont know if Ill run for a third term. I dont know if Ill run for a higher office. I dont know if Ill do something outside of politics."
Booker has been mulling a run for U.S. Senate against Sen. Frank Lautenberg in 2014 and is often mentioned as a contender to run against Gov. Chris Christie.
Winfrey asked about the relationship between the mayor and governor.
"He said that the two of you are in contact quite often," Winfrey said.
"I texted him today and he texted me right back," Booker responded.
Booker said that his relationship with Christie was born of pragmatism.
"We have a lot of things that we disagree on and in a lot of ways were different. But the urgencies that I feel, Im dependent upon the state," Booker said. "If I want to put a shovel in the ground here in Newark Ive got to get some state permit to do something."
Winfrey press! ed Booke r on whether Newark was a "pit-stop" for him on the way to other ambitions - a long-simmering suspicion of many Newarkers.
"I came to Newark as a young man in my mid-20s," Booker said. "Im now approaching my mid-40s. This has been about two decades of a so-called pit stop. I owe my life in many ways to the city of Newark. I always say I wasnt born here, but Im very likely going to die here."