Article updated: 9/5/2012 11:30 AM

Democrats creating 2016 White House buzz

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President Barack Obama may face the voters in two months, but several Democrats are already laying the groundwork for a future White House run. Up-and-coming Democratic stars like Newark Mayor Cory Booker are making the rounds before state delegations and at private events surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

Associated Press

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If Cory Booker decides to run for president one day, he already has a personal connection to the first caucus state of Iowa. The mayor of Newark, N.J., told about 60 Iowa delegates during a Democratic convention gathering that he was not only "a son of New Jersey but a grandson of Iowa." For Booker and a slate of rising stars in the Democratic Party, the national convention in Charlotte amounts to a try-out before local activists, financial donors and well-connected political heavyweights.