The Case for Amy Klobuchar
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Since President Trump took office, Democrats have been having a passionate debate about what matters more: increasing progressive turnout or winning over swing voters. And there is no doubt that both tactics help Democrats win elections. But the evidence about which tactic matters more is pretty overwhelming. Persuasion does.
Take one stark pattern: In the 2018 midterms, many Democratic candidates who ran persuasion campaigns flipped areas that had gone for President Trump in 2016. Not a single Democrat won a competitive state or House district with an unabashedly progressive campaign.
Yet the presidential field is dominated by candidates who haven’t had to worry about persuading swing voters in years, if ever. Delaware (Joe Biden’s home), Massachusetts (Elizabeth Warren’s) and Vermont (Bernie Sanders’s) all voted against Trump by large margins. Pete Buttigieg and Mike Bloomberg were each the mayor of an overwhelmingly Democratic city.
The best case for Amy Klobuchar is that she’s the only remaining candidate with a track record of winning over the kind of voters that the Democrats will need to beat Trump. She has built her career on a middle-class image that avoids the leftism of Sanders or Warren and the elitism of Buttigieg or Bloomberg. As for Biden, Klobuchar looks sharper than he does — and she has a much more impressive electoral history.
She won all three of her Senate campaigns in Minnesota by more than 20 percentage points. Trump, by comparison, lost the state by only 1.5 points in 2016. Klobuchar did it by winning suburbs that normally lean right and holding her own in many rural areas.
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At this stage, of course, Klobuchar is unlikely to be the nominee. She hasn’t quite figured out how to adapt her approach for the scale of a presidential race. Too often, she still seems to be running for Senate, talking about committee assignments and legislative co-sponsors instead of telling a story about the country.
Still, Democrats would be wise to remember that her success in Minnesota is no mystery. It is the main way Democrats have won elections over the past decade, and it’s a strategy that any Democratic nominee, even Sanders , can mimic:
Pound away at simple economic issues — on which the country’s voters are legitimately progressive. De-emphasize cultural issues — on which voters are much more divided. And don’t give in to fantasies involving millions of left-wing nonvoters who are just waiting to show up at the polls.
This independent centrist is already a fan of Amy's.
Amy would probably be my number one pick. By the time the primaries reach Illinois though she will likely be out of the race.
She would make a really good president.
I think her problem is that she has been relatively unknown nationally before she ran for president. All of the other contenders except Buttigieg had a higher national profile from the start. This presidential run will make her a force in the Senate though, and in centrist Democratic circles, and she can run again in the future.
I believe that is the best possible outcome of her present run.
Pretty sure that Amy Klobuchar is now known.
Klobuchar appears far too sane to win the Democratic nomination.
Bernie or bust!
Do you think she would be a better president than the current one?
Possibly, but I don't see how she even has a chance. Way too far behind, and not expecting her to do very well on Tuesday.
To me, she seems to be the sanest Democrat running.
This independent centrist hopes democrats nominate her. She can win against Trump and will make a great President.
a musical tribute !
maybe she needs an old fashioned campaign song
ONCE IN LOVE WITH AMY - Barry Manilow
Great idea!
She's been running an ad here in Arkansas. I like what she has to say.
I have to make a decision before tomorrow. I really don't want Bernie or Joe
Butt, Joe Biden is by far the strongest candidate against Trump in the swing states which the Democrats must win in order to beat Trump. Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida will decide the race for the EC. Trump would romp over Bernie. Admittedly Biden is olde though so are Trump, Bloomberg and Bernie.
Better safe than sorry. My money is still on Biden.
I don't live in a swing state. The senate race is actually more important in Arkansas than the POTUS. We all know that trmp is going to take Arkansas in the general
I love Amy. I hope she ends up on the ticket as VP.
I would vote for her as president.
Here moderate positioning is a great appeal.
The fact that she is smart and sane is also a big plus. Trump is neither.
This is not Klobuchar's time. Her time is now---to return to the senate and be the excellent senator she has always been.
Now it is Trump time until Jan 20, 2025. Then it will be Haley-Rubio time.
Hedge the bet.