Cory Booker: “I can't leave the floor without speaking to Mary. Mary has been such an incredible inspiration to me. I have been in the…”

“I can't leave the floor without speaking to Mary. Mary has been such an incredible inspiration to me. I have been in the Senate now for 13 months, and I have had a number of conversations with her, but the best way to teach somebody is to show somebody. Senator Landrieu is prodigiously persuasive, tirelessly tenacious, doggedly determined. Just to watch Senator Landrieu is to watch what every American should hope for in a Senator--someone who is unyielding in their work and service to them. If you look at the myriad of interests in the State of Louisiana, I was amazed by what I saw firsthand. Mary stood up and fought for the people who were loud and ornery but still had a good cause as well as the people who were voiceless and humble. Mary stood up for them. Mary stood up for people in her community who were from every different background and from every different race. Mary stood up to them in a way that is a model to my State. I heard my senior Senator mention you by name about how essential you were when my State had its back against the wall and crushed by a superstorm. When there were battles to get my State's funding, and Mary had no skin in that game, my senior Senator mentioned you as a champion for New Jersey and that is what blows me away about you. I yearn for a government that has moral courage, more than we have now, people who will risk popularity for purpose and will risk substance for some kind of celebrity.…”