7 things you need to know from 2020 candidate Amy Klobuchar’s CNN town hall

CNN’s Don Lemon hosted a town hall Monday evening with 2020 candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. While I initially thought she lacked the charisma needed in today’s 24/7 social media environment to even be considered a strong Democratic candidate, I was surprised at how well she did at the town hall. I still wouldn’t assign “charismatic” to her as a descriptive term, but she billed herself as a “pragmatic progressive” and indeed, that’s how she came across. In a refreshing twist, she provided answers that were far more specific than most Democrat politicians, while also evading the “hope and change” optimism that most Democrats tend to adopt. From what I saw on social media, the town hall was a hit with moderate Democrats, her target audience.

Here are the main takeaways from Klobuchar’s town hall.

She hit back at Trump, but wasn’t too caustic.

Where Hillary Clinton and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., tended to be caustic and biting when they referred to President Trump, Klobuchar pushed back on his style and his governing choices without sounding like the Wicked Witch of the West. After one question about Trump, Klobuchar said, “I think the first thing is to stop governing by tweet … You have to have someone that you have faith in, that respects the institution.” This garnered applause and even as a conservative, I have to say I agreed. When asked about Trump securing a border wall via national emergency, she responded short and to the point: “I think it’s unconstitutional.” For many people, brevity from a politician is refreshing. While most expect a Democrat to disagree with a Republican president, she did it in a way that elevated the debate.

She approached addiction in a really human way.

During Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing, alcohol use was a main point of contention between Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Klobuchar pointed out her father was alcoholic and thus the issue was important to her. When asked about this during the town hall, she responded with sincerity and in a personal way.

Klobuchar articulated that even despite his alcoholism, her relationship with her father remains strong to this day. This helped inform how she was as a prosecutor, always pushing for reform and for treatment in order to help people actually change and heal from addiction. She said, “In [my father’s] own words he was ‘pursued by grace.’” The slightly religious tone of grace and redemption as it relates to besetting issues like addiction is one many people on the Left and Right can relate to, and could really endear her to voters.

Despite a few pleasant surprises, there was of course quite a bit of progressive politics at play, the likes of which might appeal to centrist voters because she still broke with liberals in a couple key areas.

She doesn’t think college should be free — at least not completely

When asked about college, Klobuchar said she didn’t think all public colleges should be paid for by the government, just two-year community colleges. Four-year public colleges and universities should not be “free.” This is a huge point for those in the middle who advocate for personal responsibility while feeling guilty that young people are graduating college with lots of debt.

Klobuchar still backs universal healthcare

When one woman asked why we couldn’t have so-called “Medicare for all,” Klobuchar responded that she believed America should adopt a universal healthcare system, but it might not necessarily look like Medicare for everybody. I think she was trying to avoid adopting what conservatives view as a radical, socialist idea, while at the same time, basically supporting it.

Klobuchar is still gung ho on climate change

While Klobuchar said the Green New Deal was “important to have but there need to be compromises,” and she also backed the Paris climate agreement 100 percent.

She dodged the question about her staff

BuzzFeed News recently reported on several members of Klobuchar’s staff, saying she had a temper and often yelled or even threw objects at them in a huff.

When asked about her notorious temper, she basically said she has high standards for herself, and thus her staff, and America — and totally dodged the question. Whether this will come back to bite her depends on how much the alleged claims are true and if so, what her staff or former staff do about it, if anything.

She still advocates “common-sense gun safety legislation”

Not surprisingly, Klobuchar called for more gun control. She said she would ban assault rifles and often thinks of it as whether or not a ban on that would hurt family members in Minnesota who like to hunt. Her ability to place practical boundaries on it might appeal to voters who too think that seems like common sense.

Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.