Amy Klobuchar filed her nomination papers. I like her.
I wanted so hard to be thrilled. I wasn't. But she isn't selling thrill.
She is selling normal.
I think she is in the sweet spot politically for a Democrat to win the electoral college.
She is one of two purple state senators who filed on Wednesday. Colorado senator Michael Bennet also filed.
Each of them say voters want someone who is nice, non combative in tone, and someone who understands how Washington works.
Someone liberal but not extreme. Someone who can get votes of moderates. Someone just like themselves.
Amy Klobuchar signed the paperwork in the crowded second floor office of the Secretary of State, amid a dozen TV cameras, then went down to the grassy lawn to give a ten minute speech to about 200 people. There were nice young people right out of college giving away signs and buttons, signing people up onto email lists, setting up the seating. There were eight TV cameras down on the lawn to get a snippet on the nightly news, just in case she said something interesting.
WIN BIG, not GO BIG.. She said Trump was dangerous for America, that people wanted a public option on health insurance--not Medicare for All-- and that it was important that we elect Democratic senators from purple states. WIN BIG meant winning legislative majorities. It does not mean what Sanders or Warren says it means, big, dramatic change.
Five hours later I could not remember a single actual point she made beyond saying we cannot afford Medicare for All and that she is well positioned to beat Trump.
I referred to video notes. She said "the president is not the king." That got applause. She was interesting in the moment, but not memorable.
What she is not. She isn't a hater or a defender of the liberal tribe, and she doesn't play to Democratic resentments. She doesn't have big applause lines. She doesn't get laughs. She doesn't create chants. She doesn't present herself as a warrior against Trump. She doesn't have bold policy proposals.
She has an implied brand: Normalcy.
Electability is a powerful message, and it is enough for me, but a lesson of the 2016 election is that the critical votes on the margin were the people who did not vote, but could have: uninspired black voters, uninspired leftist voters, and people who thought the Democratic message disparaged people like them, the deplorables.
Klobuchar may not fix that problem. She doesn't communicate an exciting, mentally sticky message.
In that vacuum, Trump will create ones for her. He will fill out her brand.
That is a big problem.
What she is not. She isn't a hater or a defender of the liberal tribe, and she doesn't play to Democratic resentments. She doesn't have big applause lines. She doesn't get laughs. She doesn't create chants. She doesn't present herself as a warrior against Trump. She doesn't have bold policy proposals.
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| The signing desk used for decades |
She has an implied brand: Normalcy.
Electability is a powerful message, and it is enough for me, but a lesson of the 2016 election is that the critical votes on the margin were the people who did not vote, but could have: uninspired black voters, uninspired leftist voters, and people who thought the Democratic message disparaged people like them, the deplorables.
Klobuchar may not fix that problem. She doesn't communicate an exciting, mentally sticky message.
In that vacuum, Trump will create ones for her. He will fill out her brand.
That is a big problem.
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| Speaking on the lawn |
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| Statehouse venue |
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| Chair setup for about half the crowd of 200 |
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| Set up the event venue |
7 comments:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar is pitching herself for the White House as the commonsense Midwestern answer to President Donald Trump — while former staffers portray her as a brutal boss who mistreated them.
The run-up to Klobuchar’s expected presidential campaign launch on Sunday was sidetracked by former aides, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution, who described a toxic office environment including demeaning emails, thrown office supplies and requests for staff to perform personal chores for the senator. It’s a sharp departure from the public brand that Klobuchar has built to get to this moment: a pragmatic, aw-shucks Minnesotan who gets things done and wins her state by landslide margins.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/10/amy-klobuchar-2020-staff-horror-stories-1160780
Another Queen of Mean? Aw shucks, no.
Wake me when the previews are over. Zzzzzz...
A top aide to Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer in Iowa has privately offered campaign contributions to local politicians in exchange for endorsing his White House bid, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the conversations.
The overtures from Pat Murphy, a former state House speaker who is serving as a top adviser on Steyer’s Iowa campaign, aren’t illegal — though payments for endorsements would violate campaign finance laws if not disclosed. There’s no evidence that any Iowans accepted the offer or received contributions from Steyer’s campaign as compensation for their backing.
But the proposals could revive criticism that the billionaire Steyer is trying to buy his way into the White House. Several state lawmakers and political candidates said they were surprised Steyer’s campaign would think he could buy their support.
Tom Courtney, a former Democratic state senator from southeastern Iowa who’s running for reelection to his old seat, told The Associated Press the financial offer “left a bad taste in my mouth.”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/11/07/ap-tom-steyer-aide-secretly-offered-money-for-endorsements/
https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2019/11/07/report-michael-bloomberg-filing-to-run-for-president/
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is preparing to file paperwork to run for president in at least one state with an early filing deadline, according to the New York Times.
I watched Klobuchar doing her stump speech (via Cspan) at the Iowa rally. She has a powerful delivery in that sort of a forum to accompany the "nice" reflected in other reports. This is a great candidate for bipartisan and independent support from voters in the center. -- Tam Moore
I removed a comment. It made a demeaning reference to a commenter.
The burden of the comment was that Klobuchar was a bad candidate because she was mean to her staff. Had it not made a personal attack I would have left it up. I consider it useful evidence. The notion that Klobuchar is hard on her staff has largely been discredited, but I would have left it up because it is evidence that someone--either a Republican troll or a supporter of a rival Democrat--thinks Klobuchar is a threat of some kind, and therefore needed to be disparaged.
A less surprising tack would be for someone or some group to think Klobuchar not worth attacking. The fact that she draws fire is a sign of her potential threat in both primary and general elections.
Peter Sage
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