Amy Klobuchar 2020 campaign megathread

[Mr. Morden]

Way too hawkish.

Yup. Welcome to the Democratic Party

It's not just "the Democratic Party" though.  Klobuchar is notably more hawkish than everyone else in the 2020 Dem. field, even (like Hillary Clinton at one point) having been in favor of a no fly zone in Syria.

[Mr. Morden]

Way too hawkish.

Yup. Welcome to the Democratic Party

It's not just "the Democratic Party" though.  Klobuchar is notably more hawkish than everyone else in the 2020 Dem. field, even (like Hillary Clinton at one point) having been in favor of a no fly zone in Syria.

Gillibrand also co-sponsored the "Free" Syria Act with her.

She's par for the course for most Dems. Not that that's a good thing.

Gillibrand, unlike Klobuchar, voiced skepticism of the US being involved in Syria at all by 2015:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sen-gillibrand-obamas-syria-strategy-wont-work-long-term/

Gillibrand also sounded ambivalent about the US mission in Libya back in 2011:

https://observer.com/2011/03/on-libya-gillibrand-and-nadler-sound-different/

And of course, Gillibrand, like the majority of Senate Dems, was critical of both of Trump's attacks on the Assad regime for chemical weapons use, while Klobuchar called it "the right thing to do".

Klobuchar also voted for the anti-BDS bill, while nearly all of the other 2020 Dems voted against it.  None of the others running or looking to run for prez in 2020 are as hawkish as her, as far as I can tell.

[Mr. Morden]

I will admit she's somewhat to the right of the other contenders on foreign policy, bit it's hardly a noticeable difference. Booker also co-sponsored the anti-BDS bill

He voted against it though.

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Well, I'm comparing Klobuchar to the others who are running for president (or likely to run).  Maybe Bennet is more hawkish than her, I'm not sure.  I don't think anyone else running is though.

[Mr. Morden]

Her campaign website just got updated to say she's running for prez:

https://amyklobuchar.com

[Mr. Morden]

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/429725-klobuchar-raises-1-million-online-after-announcing-white-house-bid

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[Mr. Morden]

Klobuchar is making a 7 figure ad buy in Nevada:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/482692-klobuchar-rolls-out-seven-figure-ad-buy-in-nevada

[Mr. Morden]

About spending money, spending advertising money is easy, and it's also more effective on Super Tuesday.

Honestly I'm not sure that that's true, unless your campaign has Bloomberg-like resources.  The battlefield is so enormous on Super Tuesday, with so many expensive media markets, that there just isn't enough $ to go around to make a meaningful dent, in all likelihood.  Free media at that point is probably more important.  Which is why Klobuchar is smart to spend a decent sum of money on Nevada now, rather than save cash for Super Tuesday.  She (and the other campaigns) need to get more free media to help on Super Tuesday, and the way to do that is to win or do well in NV and/or SC.

[Mr. Morden]

Klobuchar says her campaign has raised $12 million since the last debate:

https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/klobuchar-we-raised-12-million-since-debate-78854213687?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_mtp

That's more than she raised in the entire 4th quarter.

[Mr. Morden]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/18/pro-klobuchar-pac-nevada-south-carolina-115875

A super PAC supporting Amy Klobuchar is dropping a seven-figure ad buy into Nevada and South Carolina, giving the Minnesota senator a much-needed financial boost.

The super PAC, called Kitchen Table Conversations, was formed late last week at a crucial moment in the race for Klobuchar, who has only days to build on her surprise third-place finish in New Hampshire before a slew of big-ticket Democratic presidential contests begin.

The group plans to air TV ads on broadcast and cable stations, as well as digital platforms, in Nevada and South Carolina, starting Wednesday. The group also plans to expand into the 14 Super Tuesday states later, according to a person familiar with the ad buy.

[Mr. Morden]

Klobuchar starts advertising in 7 Super Tuesday states:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/20/klobuchar-launches-ads-in-super-tuesday-states-116301

Amy Klobuchar is launching three new ads and going up with a seven-figure TV ad buy covering half of the Super Tuesday states on Thursday, joining a small group of Democratic presidential candidates advertising in the delegate-rich primaries looming on March 3.

The Minnesota senator’s campaign will start airing TV and digital ads on Thursday in Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia. The campaign did not share details about how they will divvy up the buy among the states.

I also thought this was interesting:

Bloomberg, Steyer and Sanders are the only candidates up on the air in California and Texas, the two biggest delegate prizes on March 3.

[Mr. Morden]

Klobuchar campaign shares a memo on their Super Tuesday strategy:

https://twitter.com/amandawgolden/status/1232017946337325059

https://twitter.com/amandawgolden/status/1232017947952078856

In brief, they say they're targeting everything, so there isn't much information content here.  The main thing that's new is just the dollar figure.

[Mr. Morden]

Klobuchar is campaigning in several Southern Super Tuesday states, but not in South Carolina:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/28/politics/amy-klobuchar-south-carolina/index.html

Klobuchar, who has built her campaign on reaching moderates and Midwesterners, had left the Palmetto State the morning after her CNN town hall on Wednesday night and has yet to return. Instead, she looked toward Super Tuesday, flying to North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Maine.

In the five days leading up to the South Carolina primary, the senator held only one public event: a grassroots rally on Wednesday inside a plush wedding venue at a historic site in Charleston. The event attracted fewer than 10 black people out of the roughly 100 who attended.

The turnout at that engagement, sources close to the campaign say, is a reality of a campaign not prepared to make inroads with voters who differ from their candidate -- namely people of color. The lack of vision to draw in diverse voters from the beginning, in part because of limited funds, led to a strategy that prioritized Iowa and New Hampshire, the two early states with predominantly white voters. That plan effectively abandoned the next two early states on the calendar, which have larger black and brown democratic populations: Nevada and South Carolina.