Politics

Mixed Record in Newark Could Complicate Cory Booker's Expected Senate Run

Expected to face tough primary competition in 2014

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Cory Booker has become one of the most famous mayors in the nation with the help of a careful political campaign that cast him as a unique talent willing to forgo better opportunities to save this crime-ridden and poverty-plagued city.

His story has been enhanced by tales of derring-do: chasing down criminals on foot, extracting a neighbor from a burning building and rescuing shivering dogs stranded in the snow. The "cult of Cory" has produced a windfall of investment in a city that has been dubbed the carjacking capital of the United States, and a bonanza of publicity for the 43-year-old mayor.