New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker stresses vitality of 'on the ground' endorsements before Iowa caucus

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker stresses vitality of ‘on the ground’ endorsements before Iowa caucus originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Less than 100 days from the Iowa caucus, Democratic presidential hopeful, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, joined ABC’s The View on Wednesday to discuss diversity and the importance of “on the ground” endorsements.

“Our biggest issue right now is [to] keep getting enough money to stay in,” Booker told the hosts in his first sit down with the show since announcing his candidacy in February. “Because this election is going to be determined on the ground, organizing.”

The lawmaker said polls this far out won’t be what determines who will take the nomination.

(MORE: Cory Booker – Everything you need to know about the 2020 presidential candidate)

Booker drew a contrast between himself and former Vice President Joe Biden, saying they have policy differences.

“I’m positioning myself as a person that can bring all sections of our party together,” Booker said. “I think that’s my strength over Joe Biden running. So, I respect him, I think that anybody wants to tear down his character, I will fight against you. But I’m running because I think this country needs a dynamic leader who can inspire and engage the electorate.”

Booker calls this a “movement election,” claiming voters that haven’t yet been motivated to get to the polls must be mobilized.

(MORE: Cory Booker needs $1.7M before October to stay in race, campaign says)

Booker’s campaign has struggled to gain traction, lagging far behind frontrunners former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in national polls.

But despite his low poll numbers, Booker maintains that he still has a viable path to the nomination.

“The leader in the polls this far out in the Democratic Party has never, ever in our lifetime gone on to be president,” he said.

(MORE: ‘Around the Table’: Sen. Cory Booker talks water crisis, income inequality)

In a testy exchange with Meghan McCain, Booker said he would support mandatory buybacks.

“Other countries have done it. We did it with machine guns,” Booker said. “Why are we playing into fear mongers? They want to make a decision that there’s been people showing up your house and taking your guns away that plays exactly into the gun lobby.”

Booker was asked to share his thoughts if the country will be more unified after impeachment or more divided.

He said lawmakers have a duty take impeachment seriously.

“All of us have an obligation to do this in an honorable way, in a sobered way,” said Booker. “This is not a gleeful thing to take a sitting president out of office, all of us should see the gravity of that and do a process that helps to build more public trust in the process and build more — through transparency — build more support.”

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