Cory Booker Tweets Privately With Oregon Stripper [VIDEO]

Cory Booker's exchange of private tweets with a Portland, Oregon stripper who admits to having a "slight crush" on the Newark mayor and candidate for U.S. Senate will not change his use of Twitter.

"When somebody like this person extends kindness my way," Booker told reporters today about the flirty tweets between he and Oregon stripper Lynsie Lee,25 as first reported by Buzz Feed (NOT SAFE FOR WORK) "I respond in kind."

Booker says he does not check the profiles of people he tweets with. "I tweet people back from all different backgrounds. It's not something I pay attention to."

Lee hoped to meet Booker in Austin, Texas at the premiere of  Follow Friday, a film about Twitter in 2012 in which they they both appear.  She started tweeting with him when he couldn't make it to Texas.  "I was flirting with him, I thought he was cute, and I was excited to meet him at the premiere, but he couldn't make it, so we just kept flirting," Lee told KPTV TV.  "I would say, I just hope this doesn't hurt his career, because I'm rooting for you. And, you can take me out to dinner any time."

Lee said she resents any implication that she deliberately leaked the conversation for fame or money. She said a jokey, catty feud among the girls in the documentary -- all of whom, she said, had a crush on Booker -- led her to post the image.

According to her Twitter profile (NOT SAFE FOR WORK) she is a stripper at Casa Diablo, a Portland, Oregon strip club that calls itself the world's first vegan strip according to the New York Times.  Lee describes herself as a "stripper model weirdo."

“@CoryBooker you’re welcome to come stay in my bedroom if your home was affected by the hurricane . . . ;)” Lee tweeted in October, after Hurricane Sandy. She also got a post card from Booker, who is not married, and said it was "going under my pillow for later."

At one point Booker declared his "love" for Lee.

After the tweets became public, Lee on her Twitter profile (NOT SAFE FOR WORK) called the story "hilarious" but happy that "great pictures" of her were being used in the news coverage. Lee said the tweets took place a year ago and that "I didn't even know it was a thing until reporters called me."  She also joked,  "Does this mean I need to wear a flag pin when I strip tonight?

“I think it’s pretty well known that the mayor talks with people from all walks of life on Twitter. There have been a couple of stories about that over the years," Booker spokesman Kevin Griffis responded to the report. "the most shocking part of this story was learning there is a vegan strip club in Portland.”

Booker, who has over 1.4 million followers on his Twitter account, manages his own Twitter account that he is always using to talk with Newark residents about problems and about his own day-to-day activity with tweets and pictures.  He once said that he can travel and still do his job thanks to his Twitter account.

The 43-year-old's sexual orientation has also also come under questioning for not giving a direct reply to the question. “The question really should not be whether I’m gay or straight,” responded Booker. “The question should be why the heck are you asking the question in the first place?” Booker said to MSNBC's Chris Hayes.  "It will not make a difference in what kind of Senator he would be and believes the issue of his orientation speaks to a larger issue of gays getting “second class citizenship” based upon “who they love.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report