If Cory Booker were a television character you might think the writers were over-egging things a bit. Tall, athletic, handsome, he is an ambitious politician with a flair for drama. He rescues a woman from a burning building, saves a freezing dog, chases a scissor-wielding mugger, invites hurricane victims to share his home, helps a nervous constituent propose to his girlfriend. He champions the poor, vaults over rivals to become mayor of a benighted city and enlists tycoons to help transform it. He lights up social media and chat shows and is dubbed the nation's most eligible bachelor. At the age of 44, he wins a Senate seat and plots a run for the White House.
That last sentence is fictional — for now. Booker, the mayor of Newark, is favored to become the junior senator for New Jersey in an October election. After which his name will join those of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden as a mooted Democratic candidate for the top job in 2016. Celebrities already appear on board. Oprah Winfrey has called him "a rock star." Jon Stewart dubbed him "the superhero mayor of Newark."
In an unusual move, President Barack Obama has dispatched key members of his election team to guide Booker's elevation to Washington. The notion of America's first black president handing the reins to another black man is no longer outlandish.