CLOSING THE BOOKER

With Cory out, 12 Dems left as Iowa nears

Sen. Cory Booker dropped his Democratic presidential bid on Monday, leaving a dozen hopefuls in the race less than a month before the first caucuses in Iowa.

Booker, the former mayor of Newark, noted the problems he was having making a mark in the polls and raising funds in an e-mail sent to supporters.

“Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win — money we don’t have, and money that is harder to raise because I won’t be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington,” Booker said.

Moments after Booker tweeted the news Monday, President Trump mocked him.

“Really Big Breaking News (Kidding): Booker, who was in zero polling territory, just dropped out of the Democrat

Presidential Primary Race,” the president tweeted. “Now I can rest easy tonight. I was sooo concerned that I would someday have to go head to head with him!”

In an interview with The Associated Press last week, Booker acknowledged he was fighting an uphill battle.

“If we can’t raise more money in this final stretch, we won’t be able to do the things that other campaigns with more money can do to show presence,” he said.

Booker launched his campaign last February, the first day of Black History Month. Now only one black candidate remains — former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Booker’s campaign revealed that it had raised $6.6 million, far less than the other Democratic candidates.

Booker failed to qualify for either the Democratic debate in December or for Tuesday’s debate in Iowa. According to an average of national polls by RealClear Politics, he was polling at 1.8 percent.

Booker is the third Democrat to drop out in January, along with Marianne Williamson and ex-HUD Secretary Julian Castro.

Meanwhile, Staten Island Rep. Max Rose, who is facing a well-funded Republican challenge to his re-election, endorsed Mike Bloomberg’s bid for the Democratic nomination. Rose is Bloomberg’s first congressional endorsement.