Could be wrong, but Booker doesn't seem the kind of black politician who appeals to black racists. Just not radical enough, like he seems to try to be tough on crime in Newark. Also he presents too much of a middle class image. Plus, running statewide, he would have to be careful not to turn off whites. And I don't think he's as much of a machine guy as his black predecessors as mayor in Newark. Remember too he'd be running for Senate, not president, in an off-year election.
All in all, you may be overestimating the potential black turnout effect for Booker's Senate candidacy. There may be some, but nothing like Obama.
Cory Booker is black, unlike President Obama.
Ginning up the black vote costs street money. Two elections means twice the street money.
As to racism, this really isn't racism - it's tribalism. In Africa, blacks attach themselves to tribal politics because over there, it's a winner-takes-all world. If your tribe wins, it gets all the marbles. Here, it's just a case of race being the smallest political unit that is viable, and the law handing out all kinds of preferences in academia, the workplace and even small business specifically to people of a specific race, which is a proxy for what in Africa would be tribes.
Some people call my characterization essentialism. I call it genetics. Some breeds within the same species are gregarious, whereas others are loners. Natural selection means that different characteristics prevailed in different geographies.
“And I don’t think he’s as much of a machine guy as his black predecessors as mayor in Newark. Remember too he’d be running for Senate, not president, in an off-year election.”
Booker would win any general election in a landslide, but he could lose a low turnout primary because you are right, Booker is a reformer and not a machine guy. In fact, for a black democrat, he is almost a right wing uncle Tom.
IF you read his Wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Booker
He is portrayed nearly as the second coming, and frankly, he does sound like one of the few democrats we could live with.