Booker, Cuomo Raise Profiles Years Ahead Of 2020 Presidential Race

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- President-elect Donald Trump has not yet even taken the oath of office, but two men from the Tri-State Area are propelling themselves into the political arena as possible contenders in 2020.

CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer examined the White House dreams of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Thursday.

Cuomo and Booker have both shown big ambitions. Both have taken bold and dramatic steps in recent days to ensure that their names are on the lips of Democrats looking for the next Democratic presidential contender.

Baruch College professor Doug Muzzio said it is never too early to get your name out there.

"They want to be part of, it's the relevance conversation," Muzzio said. "It is irrespective of particular goals. They are relevant, and they have to maintain that relevance."

Both Cuomo and Booker had opening gambits to get themselves national attention.

Booker broke with tradition this week, and testified against a sitting U.S. senator -- attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions.

"The next attorney general must bring hope and healing to this country, and this demands a more courageous empathy than Senator Sessions' record demonstrates," Booker said.

And while Booker has not said straight out that he will be a candidate in 2020, there is a Facebook page called "Cory Booker for President in 2020."

Meanwhile, Cuomo has been carrying his bridge to the national spotlight too.

"We all heard the roar on Election Day and we must respond," Cuomo said in his first of several State of the State addresses on Monday.

Cuomo has seemingly been attempting to fix everything – the Tappan Zee Bridge, John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports, the subways, and the railroads.

He has also announced an exhaustive series of programs to rescue the forgotten middle class. He even held a high-profile even with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) to offer New York students free college tuition.

The proposal came with a pat on the back from Sanders himself.

"If New York state does it this year, mark my words, state after state will follow," Sanders said at the event this month.

Muzzio said Booker and Cuomo want to be the go-to people for anti-Trump commentary.

"They want to be the spokespeople for the Democratic Party; the progressive left; the sane American," Muzzio said.

But it is four long years before the next presidential election, and as Gov. Cuomo's father – the late former Gov. Mario Cuomo – once said, "Between then and now, a pope could be born." In other words, a lot can happen.