Quote:Folks, I know about rural white voters because I read a book about them. That’s what Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said at the recent Ideas Conference hosted by the left wing Center for American Progress. He said that this is how he prepares to leave the coastal bastions of the Democratic Party, who hate rural voters, when he travels into Trump country.

“I've had the privilege now of traveling to mid-western communities, traveling to the rural south, traveling out west,” said the New Jersey Democrat. “I read books like Hillbilly Elegy and everything I can to try to understand other folks, and when I read books like that, I’m thinking to myself ‘oh my God, these folks have so much in common with folks that live in my neighborhood.’”

Booker is planning a red state farmer’s tour (via Free Beacon):

Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) said in a new interview he is planning a "red state farmers tour," raising more speculation he will run for the White House in 2020.

In an interview with Yahoo‘s Hunter Walker, Booker said the tour of such states was not going to be a "public listening" campaign. He did not specify in the report which states those might be.

"We’re going to do it and not tell anybody we're doing it," he said.

"We’re not going to be doing it with lots of media coverage."