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'Rev It Up': Back at Home, Klobuchar is Told to Get Tough

Associated Press

   ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA - When Amy Klobuchar wends her way through the
   hordes of people at the Minnesota State Fair, it's clear she's on her
   home turf. She stops to greet familiar faces at the Farmers' Union. She
   poses for photos with metal workers at the AFL-CIO building. A young
   girl approaches to give her a gift -- a crop-art portrait of the
   three-term senator created with flaxseed, alfalfa and beans and titled
   "Amy Cropuchar."

   From the day she entered the 2020 presidential race with a speech
   delivered in a snowstorm, such affection -- the key to her success in
   Minnesota -- has been the core of Klobuchar's claim on the Democratic
   Party nomination. She touts her record of winning in Minnesota, even in
   areas held by Republicans, by reaching out to voters and working with
   GOP lawmakers to get things done. It's a formula she says she can
   replicate in states like Wisconsin and Michigan that Democrats likely
   need to win to defeat President Donald Trump.

   But even some of her biggest fans at home aren't buying the case. As
   they milled about for a chance to snap a picture or shake Klobuchar's
   hand, many of the people who know her best said it's been disappointing
   to see her struggle -- Klobuchar has been polling from 1% to 4% -- in a
   crowded primary field. Now that she's qualified for the next debate,
   they wished there was something more she could do to grab the
   spotlight, increase her name recognition and convince voters that she
   can win. They, ever so nicely, counted themselves among the doubters.

   "I love Amy. And I think she'd be a great president," said Merilee
   Vados, 64, of Blaine, a Minneapolis suburb. "But I think you've got to
   really rip Trump apart. You've gotta dish it out."

   "We're afraid she's not going to be able to beat him," added Vada
   Rudolph, 74, of Circle Pines, a neighboring suburb.

   A candidate's home-state voters can turn on them when they seek the
   national spotlight, either sensing neglect or resenting the ambition.
   But Minnesotans have been more loyal. They still proudly claim the
   state's best-known presidential campaign losers -- former Vice
   Presidents Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey. And even if some may
   have doubts, Minnesotans are throwing their money behind Klobuchar,
   giving her more than $10 million for the race -- millions more than
   they've donated to any other campaign.

   Perhaps that's why Klobuchar's recent trip to the fair -- billed as the
   Great Minnesota Get-together -- was a homecoming tinged with
   explanation and a defense. The senator at times sounded like a college
   student explaining that the C on the midterm biology exam would be a B
   if you graded on a curve and why all that matters is the final exam
   anyway.

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