Booker to Lobby for Obama in New Hampshire

Newark Mayor Cory Booker will visit New Hampshire next week to lobby for President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, according to sources familiar with the trip.

Booker, 42, will headline Obama-related events in the New England state at the end of next week, according to the sources, who did not say what cities the mayor will visit.

Seen as a rising Democratic political star, Booker is no stranger to the Obama campaign — promoting the president in his first election in 2008, which included headlining the opening of Obama's Texas campaign headquarters in Austin.

But it's Booker's first-ever political trip to New Hampshire.

The trip could signal a step forward in the ongoing rumor that Booker is eyeing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's seat in 2013. When asked in October about the possibility of running for governor, the mayor declined to discuss the rumor.

In early November, however, Booker appeared to fire a warning shot at Christie when, backed by a majority of the Essex County Democratic Party, he .

In addition to rumors about the governor's seat, Booker has set up a political action committee, CoryPAC, in June. The mayor, though, said the PAC was created only "to help support the city of Newark on the federal level."