Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is running for re-election -- and no one wants to run against her.

[pnwmom]

No one of any importance, that is.

Nationally, she's the 4th most popular Senator -- despite being in a purple state.

https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2018/04/minnesota-will-see-many-competitive-races-election-why-isn-t-amy-klobuchar-s

Simply, most top Minnesota Republicans — even if some on their side grouse about Klobuchar’s style of politics and claim she really is beatable — just don’t want to take her on. That the former Hennepin County attorney has placed herself above the political fray in a sharply divided state is no small feat in this political moment.

Steven Schier, professor of politics at Carleton College, quoted the baseball legend Branch Rickey to describe Klobuchar’s strong political position. “He said, ‘luck is the residue of design,’” Schier explained.

“She’s been lucky, but she’s been pretty crafty, and she has exploited her luck.”

SNIP

According to an April poll from Morning Consult, Klobuchar is the fourth-most popular U.S. senator, with a 60 percent approval rating and a 25 percent disapproval rating. The only senators to score higher than her represent two states with strong partisan bents: Vermont and South Dakota. The only purple-state senator in the top 10 was Sen. Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana.

The other numbers to consider — Klobuchar’s margins in her 2006 and 2012 campaigns — are the stuff of political legend.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. You got it,

Amy will get 70% of the vote.

[Kahuna7]

2. Love her. NT

[Bradshaw3]

3. Moving up the lists for 2020 as well

At least in my mind.

[pnwmom]

4. I think she should be. n/t

[Agschmid]

5. She's way up there on my list.

I’ve met her in person several times and she is great.

[DFW]

6. I met her at an EMILY's List even before she was first elected, and already thought WOW.

Smart, unflappable, a lock to win the Senate seat in Minnesota. It helped that Howard was DNC Chair and we were headed for a record flip in Congress anyway, but Amy Klobuchar was headed for great things anyway. It was going to take one formidable Republican to beat her, and that Republican has not yet materialized--not even twelve years later.

[Overseas]

7. I'm glad to hear it. She's on my 2020 list too. /nt

[RhodeIslandOne]

8. I like her for 2020.

But I have to contest that Minnesota is a "purple state". Like many rust belt blue states, it's got a huge metro area that is deep blue with smaller pockets of redness that elect dummies like Bachmann. Statewide, the GOP cannot get people elected. Al Franken, a staunch liberal, was also very popular, until of course he was railroaded out.

Minnesota is not Ohio or even Wisconsin.

[pnwmom]

9. Trump lost to Hillary by ONE percentage point. This is a purple state.

From the article in the OP:

With an open-seat governor’s race, two U.S. Senate races, and four U.S. House contests that are seen as must-win races by both parties, Minnesota will be something like ground zero in this fall’s critical midterm elections.

Though Democrats are feeling good about their national prospects, Republicans see opportunities in Minnesota this November: President Donald Trump nearly won the state in 2016, falling to Hillary Clinton by just a point, and recent polling indicates he remains popular in the rural areas that supported him two years ago.

SNIP

Jeff Blodgett, a veteran DFL operative and top aide to the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, says Klobuchar’s “presence as the senator and candidate, to some extent, gives the wrong impression that Minnesota is a safe blue state, when it really isn’t… which makes her standing all the more remarkable.”

[RhodeIslandOne]

10. I would not declare it purple based on one result in an anomaly of an election

The fact it was that close is embarrassing, but also an example of how complacent the establishment got that it was assumed to be "no contest" and therefore no work was put in to secure it.

[pnwmom]

11. And I wouldn't call it blue based on the personal popularity of Al Franken

and Amy Klobuchar.

Republicans control both houses of the State legislature and the Governor is a Democrat.

It's a purple state.


https://ballotpedia.org/Party_control_of_Minnesota_state_government

From the article in the OP:

Jeff Blodgett, a veteran DFL operative and top aide to the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, says Klobuchar’s “presence as the senator and candidate, to some extent, gives the wrong impression that Minnesota is a safe blue state, when it really isn’t… which makes her standing all the more remarkable.”