Sen. Amy Klobuchar Ramping Up Campaign Ahead Of November Debate
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It has been just over a week since Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar's widely praised performance in the last presidential debate, but the senator is still short of qualifying for the next one.
Esme Murphy reports on the Klobuchar's push to break out of the lower tier of presidential candidates.
To get into the next debate, candidates need 165,000 individual donors and four polls showing 3% support -- either nationally or in early voting states. Klobuchar has the donors, and she now has three out of the four polls needed to make it onto the Nov. 20 debate stage.
Those who have qualified already for that debate are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Corey Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang.
Since the last debate, it's been a week of glowing coverage for Klobuchar, from a CNN piece to reports in the New York Times and Washington Post. In the first 24 hours after the debate, Klobuchar raised more than $1 million. Among the new spending items is an upbeat ad now running in Iowa and New Hampshire.
"Americans are tired of having a whiner in the White House. I am Amy Klobuchar. As president, I won't govern by tweet, I will lead with an optimistic agenda for all Americans," the ad says.
Klobuchar supporters like to point out that at this point in past races, candidates mired in the single digits have gone on to win their party's nomination -- notably John Kerry in 2004 -- and that's the kind of optimistic view the Klobuchar team is holding onto.
Candidates can also qualify for the next debate by hitting 5% in two early state polls.
All candidates have until Nov. 13 to qualify for the Nov. 20 debate, which will be held in Georgia.