Nation: Klobuchar to make presidential run.
MINNEAPOLIS >> Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota announced Sunday that she will run for president in 2020, putting a pragmatic Midwesterner touting a message of competence and mettle into the burgeoning field of Democratic candidates.
Klobuchar held her announcement rally at a park on the banks of the Mississippi River, near the site of the 2007 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge, in which 13 people were killed and scores more were injured.
The bridge was quickly rebuilt in 2008, after politicians and officials, including the senator, came together to expedite the construction process. The intended takeaway of its role as the emotional heart of her speech: Klobuchar is someone who will get things done.
“That sense of community is fracturing across our nation right now, worn down by the petty and vicious nature of our politics,” Klobuchar said. “We are all tired of the shutdowns and the showdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding. Our nation must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity. Not by wallowing over what’s wrong, but by marching inexorably toward what’s right. And it has to start with all of us.”
Presidential announcements are typically choreographed to the second, with all exigencies covered. In Klobuchar’s case, her entry into the race came at an outdoor event at which the bareheaded candidate, her introductory speakers and hundreds of supporters were pelted by relentless snow. She sought to use that, too, as defining her candidacy.
“We don’t let a little snow stop us! We don’t let a lot of cold stop us!” Klobuchar said as she started her speech.
Later, speaking to reporters, she noted that she made her announcement “in the middle of a blizzard, and I think we need people with grit. I have that grit.”
When a reporter asked whether she was tough enough to take on President Donald Trump, she replied: “I’d have loved to see him sitting out here in the snow for an hour, giving this speech.”
The president commented on Klobuchar’s announcement via Twitter:
“Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for President, talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures,” he tweeted. “Bad timing. By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!”
In response, the senator tweeted: “Science is on my side, @realDonaldTrump. Looking forward to debating you about climate change (and many other issues). And I wonder how your hair would fare in a blizzard?”
The sprawling field Klobuchar joined Sunday includes four Democratic senators — Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey. Other senators, including Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and the 2016 runner-up to the nomination, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are considering bids.
Klobuchar aimed to distinguish herself with a Midwestern earnestness, as she made clear in her speech.