Metro

Cory Booker: My stripper chat was all tweet nothings

She’s the most famous stripper in America right now — but Cory Booker says no one should have a problem with him having an online relationship with the tattooed 26-year-old pole dancer.

The Newark mayor and heavy favorite to become a US senator in next month’s New Jersey special election shrugged off the revelation that he has been gushing over Lynsie Lee in Twitter exchanges for months — saying it’s not like he runs background checks on everyone corresponds with.

Among the tamer pics tweeted by stripper Lynsie Lee was this one of her pup with a stack of bills.

“I don’t study people’s profiles,” he said Thursday. “I tweet people back from all different backgrounds. It’s not something I pay attention to.”

Booker said he communicates with “thousands of people” on Twitter and, “I’m just not going to ask questions, ‘Is it politically not viable to speak to you?’ It’s just not the way I roll.

“When somebody like this person extends kindness my way, I respond in kind,” Booker said of Lee’s flirty online support for his campaign.

He even defended the profession of the Portland, Ore., dancer, whose Twitter profile says she’s got “wits and t-ts’’ and features a nude photo of herself bending backward over a chair.

“Some of the puritanical judgments I’ve seen of this young lady are really over the top,’’ Booker said.

“You guys might have some prurient interest, but at the end of the day, this is about extending kindness to folks.”

Her Twitter page also includes a string of lewd photos of herself, including one of her body being licked by another woman and a snapshot in which she and a bikini-clad gal are entwined in bed.

On Thursday, Lee admitted their tweets would be considered “flirting” but insisted the back-and-forth was “G-rated.”

“I flirted with him publicly, as I do with a lot of people,” the stripper said. “There was nothing secret or sexy about it.”

Lee said she has never met Booker and has never communicated with him outside Twitter.

Compared with the racy messages she usually receives, she rated Bookers’ as a “1 out of 10.”

The relationship between the unmarried Booker and the 18-years-younger stripper came to light Wednesday when Lee provided a screenshot of some of their messages to the Web site BuzzFeed.

In one tweet, Lee told Booker that the West Coast loved him, and Booker replied, “The East Coast loves you and by the East Coast, I mean me.”

Lee responded that she was blushing. Booker replied, “Its only fair.”

In another exchange, Lee wrote, “ooh just got a postcard from @CoryBooker in the mail. this is going under my pillow for later ;)”

Below her tweet was what appeared to be a signed campaign photo of Booker.

“Thanks for the generous tweet,” he replied.

Booker’s Republican opponent, Steve Lonegan, called the tweets another distraction in a “rather bizarre campaign of a cult personality.”

Lee told Portland television station KPTV that if she ever met Booker, her message would be: “I just hope this doesn’t hurt your political career, because I’m rooting for you. And you can take me out to dinner any time.”

Lee also used Twitter to joke about her sudden fame Thursday, urging followers to come out to the vegan Portland strip club where she dances.

“If you come to see me at @CasaDiablo tonight, bring your wallets. I’m prime meat for the next couple of days! ;)” she said.

Booker, meanwhile, joked about the media’s interest in the story.

“I really think it’s because the press corps is obsessed with vegan living,” the mayor said.