In NH, Newark Mayor Says It's Time for Dems to Fight Back

In New Hampshire campaigning for President Obama on Friday, Newark Mayor Cory Booker fired a few jabs at Mitt Romney and his campaign surrogate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Asked if he thinks now is the time to fight, as Obama recently stated, Booker replied that yes, sometimes that's the only way to get the message across.

"I like to punish people with facts," Booker said. "They are irrefutable about what happened. I look at Mitt Romney's first ads – blatant lies. We can't let people get away with that."

He also took issue with Christie. He joked with the crowd, saying, "There's a very shy governor of my state – you probably haven't heard of him because he's very soft spoken. He's up here, he's a very pugilistic man, he's punching at my president like crazy."

But Booker said he thinks there are "honorable ways" in an election to get points across, by using the truth. "At the end of the day, the truth will set you free."

Booker, a rising star in the Democratic Party, made those remarks during an afternoon stop at the University of New Hampshire, which followed earlier stops at Plymouth State University and Saint Anselm College, as the Obama campaign works to win back young voters discouraged by the current state of the economy and the job market.

Booker said it was great to feel "the enthusiasm and energy" as he toured the state on Friday. "It's not what happens in Washington, but what happens in cities like this that determines our outcomes."

But change, he said, "doesn't just happen. It has to come in because people stand for it."

Booker urged the students in attendance to get involved, to work to make sure that Obama gets reelected in what is seen as .

He said Obama is doing "very meaningful things," and he is tired of the "state of sedentary agitation" he sees overtaking the country today.

"But I'm not just here to say vote for this guy," Booker said. "This is a state where we need people to get more organized, more involved. Wherever this state goes, it could take the whole country as well. The leadership in this state is critical in the coming months."

Camilla Cooper, a 20-year-old UNH student who will be voting in her first presidential election next year, said she was impressed with Booker.

"I thought he was a really good speaker," she said. "He's really inspirational." An independent, she was originally leaning toward voting Republican next fall. "(But) after watching his speech, I'm kind of confused."