She comes across as neurotic and abusive, hardly positive traits in a leader. She also drove away a variety of people who didn’t want to manage her campaign because of it.
She has a pretty successful senate history, I suspect Stalin Mitch would find her a much more formidable opponent than the mayor of South Bend.
I like Amy. She’s one of my senators, and i was there when she announced she was running (that outdoor rally in the blizzard was about 2 blocks from my apartment).
She seems to legitimately get things done in the Senate, and while she isn’t the most “exciting” candidate, she has a certain electability in that while there are many conservatives that will 100% hold their nose and vote for Trump against Bernie or Warren (i suspect mostly because of backlash against their virtue signaling - and OMG SOCIALISM), a moderate like Klobuchar that actual gets things done for all Americans can possibly make them consider voting Democrat when Trump is the alternative.
2 questions:
Can you give examples of these things she has gotten done in the Senate?
Have these allegations of her being an abusive boss come up in previous campaigns? I’d imagine Minnesotans would be among the least likely voters in the country to excuse that sort of behavior.
Maybe, or maybe it’s sour grapes from disgruntled ex-staffers. I don’t really care (and Bernie is my first choice anyway) – I’m just pointing out how the political messaging could spin this.
Not an Amy fan, but the amount of attention given to this stuff feels really gendered.
Those diverse and centrist Biden supporters in Nevada and SC looking for someone else to vote for now that Biden collapsed aren’t going to Buttigieg and Bloomberg ain’t on the ballot. She is now an option.
So long as she does okay in the next debate she should do well in these next two. Which deflates Buttigieg’s ascent. And gives Bloomberg his Super Tuesday shot. Meanwhile Sanders gets his 30ish percent.
- Here’s a link with information on the bills she has sponsored that were enacted, (34 have been enacted). Gov Track
And here’s a link to the press release regarding analysis of GovTrack data that ranked her 1st in the Senate in 2016 in working accross the aisle to get bipartisan bills passed. Press Release There are details for some of the acts here, and what they accomplish, and who she worked with.
- I’d never heard of these allegations until the presidential run. I don’t really give them a second thought, though I’ve only lived in Minnesota for 12.5 years, so maybe i’m not yet a typical Minnesotan as you imagine them. Also , it seems to me these would be seen as a non-issue for a male candidate (if not a positive).
In her partial defense, not every appointment has been terrible. I, myself, even supported one I knew from the District Court bench being elevated to the Court of Appeals.
I will agree that many nominees have been horrific. Reading the linked article, I would have preferred she voted “no” more often. In my mind (and the judiciary is crucial to my livelihood) this is an “area for improvement,” and not a disqualification.
And why do you not think they’d go to Buttigieg? Amy has a 3rd place, Pete has a first and a very strong second as well as the delegate lead. Why not back a winner?
She led the fight to keep pizza sauce a vegetable (cite). To be fair, she is from Minnesota, where lutefisk is considered a vegetable.
Yes.
Cite.
She has the highest staff turnover rate in the Senate.
Again, her supporters will spin this as either that she is a demanding boss, and that criticisms of her management style are sexist, and those making the accusations say it is real and not based on her gender. Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer cherce.
Regards,
Shodan
I’m from Minnesota and the positions and attitudes of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party* have always resonated with me, from Hubert Humphrey and Gene McCarthy to Walter Mondale. I didn’t have any expectations for Amy until last night, but I can support her now.
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- The DFL was formed from the Dems and a bunch of rural and urban Wobblies
She and I were at New Haven together in the same graduating class of 1982. We were both in Jonathan Edwards College, the smallest of the residential colleges, only about a hundred students.
…and I don’t remember her at ALL.
She still seems like quite a long shot. But IMO she probably has the “safest” chance of beating Trump in the general. There are a lot of voters in swing states that don’t really want to vote for Trump, but couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Clinton. It’s still very unclear to me that they would vote for Bernie or Pete. But I bet a lot of them would vote for Amy (particularly in MI, WI, PA, even OH).
So basically she’s the new Biden, without the apparent lack of fire and odd campaign soundbites. The question is how does she navigate a very crowded moderate lane against Pete, Biden, and the big-spending Bloomberg heading into Super Tuesday. I agree with the comment up-thread that the only way to do it is for some big hitters to come out supporting her. A Biden drop-out and endorsement after Nevada and SC would help, but of course Biden has his final eggs in those baskets.
I heard on a podcast that she outright won the most votes among college-educated voters. That’s pretty interesting, as this is the group that has shifted toward Democrats in the wake of Trump’s election, and were key to winning the House in 2018.
She also won voters over 45.
Diverse is the key word there. There’s lots of reasonable hypotheses for why Buttigieg has failed to make any connection with voters of, well any color at all, but it is not for lack of trying or lack of exposure.
Mind you, Klobuchar has no support there either so far. But she at least can claim to not yet had her swing at winning them over, and does not give quite the same appearance and sense of white privilege that Buttigieg does. And while I am a bit loathe to go simplistically to identity politics, Black voters en masse have demonstrated a past willingness to vote for a woman (Clinton), but not for a gay man. A major portion of the reliable Black voter bloc is dominated by what some of the CNN panel referred to as “the church hat ladies” … Honestly if the GOP wasn’t so overtly racist they could win a good chunk of the Black vote based on social issues compatibility. Klobuchar is of the bunch (plummeting Biden; a hard progressive; a gay man; and a centrist Midwestern woman) possibly the least poor choice.
Amy Klobuchar isn’t exactly the brightest bulb. Pretty stupid of her to go on a Telemundo interview in the Southwest and not know the president of Mexico. Not exactly a ‘gotcha’ question like the president of Guinea-Bissau.
Steyer didn’t know either, naturally Pete Buttigieg did.
I can forgive that.
She was on Bill Maher last night and did fairly well.
I’ve seen her on his show recently and wasn’t overwhelmed. She strikes me as the least interesting candidate in the entire Dem field. An absolute sleeping pill. Even that loon Marianne was more interesting. I’ll have another look and try to keep an open mind.