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Cory Booker Says He Can Tweet With a Stripper If He Wants To

Newark Mayor Cory Booker defends Twitter exchange with Oregon stripper.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker's Twitter followers come from all walks of life, including a vegan strip club in Portland, Oregon. This week the website BuzzFeed uncovered Twitter messages that the U.S. Senate hopeful exchanged with Lynsie Lee, an exotic dancer who works at said club, Casa Diablo.

The messages were slightly flirtatious, but by no means salacious, and no inappropriate photos were exchanged. In fact, the two will appear together in an upcoming documentary about Twitter called Follow Friday: The Film.

Campaign spokesman Kevin Griffis said that "the most shocking thing about this story is the news that there’s a vegan strip club in Portland.” And Lee told The Star Ledger that if she were an accountant there would be no story and she and the mayor haven't tweeted each other since February.

On Thursday, Booker told reporters that it's his job is to listen and engage with people, and he doesn't judge them based on their professions.

“It’s the way we should be in public life,” Booker said. “And casting judgment on folks because of what they do is unacceptable to me and I’m going to continue being me — this doesn’t change that at all — and continue talking to everybody. It’s what I do in Newark.”

Booker will face off on Oct. 16 with Republican Steve Lonegan in a special election to fill the seat vacated due to the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg in June. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed that the race is tightening. The majority of the popular mayor's support comes from women, who back him by 60-30 percent

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(Photo: AP Photo/Mel Evans)

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