After a year of the media wondering why her national support languished in the single digits, Amy Klobuchar finally proved that she has a path to the presidency, albeit a narrow one.
The Minnesota senator has always been electable. While Hillary Clinton only won her state by 1 percentage point in 2016, Klobuchar routinely wins it by more than 20. But although a likable, liberal woman with a hefty resume and Rust Belt appeal made sense on paper, she failed to catch steam in the entire primary season.
At last, the Klobucharge is upon us. After a relatively strong performance in the Iowa caucuses, Klobuchar has excelled in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, coming in the top three and besting two former front-runners, Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, who it appears will both fail to earn a single delegate.
Bernie Sanders, who cleaned up in the Granite State in 2016, was both ascendant in national polls and slated to come in first in this primary. But Klobuchar’s projected rise felt as much like wishcasting from disaffected Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans wildly overrepresented in the media. She was always a compelling candidate for a general election, but her path in the primary seemed impossible so long as Biden dominated the field as well as the moderate lane. But thanks to Biden’s failure to do well in Iowa or own a single delegate in New Hampshire, and even more so his collapse of crucial black support, her electability in the general election has never seemed so possible, even if not probable.
It makes perfect sense. Klobuchar entered the race a highly qualified candidate. unlike celebutante rivals like Beto O’Rourke and Kamala Harris, and one who maintained respect across the aisle during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process that effectively acted as national auditions for senators vying for the presidency. She maintained distance from politically toxic proposals like “Medicare For all” and court-packing, and although she supports standard left-wing issues like abortion access and gun control, she never did so by actively alienating pro-life and pro-gun voters.
Amy Klobuchar always made sense on paper. Now we get to see if she succeeds in practice.
