Senate candidate Cory Booker, stripper exchanged tweets

NEWARK, N.J., Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Cory Booker, running for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey, said Thursday he did not study the profile of an Oregon stripper before exchanging tweets with her.

Booker also suggested his Twitter exchange with Lynsie Lee is a non-issue, WPIX-TV in New York reported.

"Everybody's talking about things in this election except, frankly, what the issues are," Booker said. "We are four days away from a government shutdown."

Booker, now the Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey's largest city, is 44 and has never married, leading to rumors he is gay. The exchange with Lee, first published by Buzzfeed this week, is something of a change of pace.

The raciest exchange of messages appears to have occurred in February.

"The West Coast loves you," Lee tweeted, with Booker responding "And the East Coast loves you ... and by the East Coast, I mean me."

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, the Republican candidate in the special Senate election, suggested the tweets speak to Booker's character and judgment. Polls show Booker with a big lead.