Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who seemed like a promising candidate when she started out her campaign early in the year, has largely trailed in the polls and not stood out at the three debates she has participated in. Despite that, she managed to raise a respectable, albeit hardly sufficient, amount of money in the third quarter of the year:
Democrat Amy Klobuchar raised $4.8 million between July and the end of September, her campaign announced Monday, a total that bested the Minnesota Senator’s haul from the previous quarter by $1 million.
Klobuchar’s third-quarter fundraising was a fraction of the amount raised by top Democratic candidates such as Bernie Sanders, who raised the most of any candidate in the field, $25.3 million. But it is likely enough to keep Klobuchar’s campaign functioning as she attempts to secure more support.
Klobuchar has qualified for the October Democratic debate and has crossed the donor threshold for the November debate, giving her opportunities to keep making the case for her presidential bid to a national audience. She is currently polling at 1 percent on average, according to Real Clear Politics.
As noted, Klobuchar’s numbers are hardly comparable to those of the top tier of the Democratic field, of course, and they fall short of her best numbers of the year. That being said, they are sufficient enough to put her over the top for the fundraising half of the criteria needed to qualify for the November Democratic Debate. In order to qualify, though, she’ll need to either poll at or above 3% in selected national polls, which she has never done, or at or above 5% in two statewide polls in the early primary states.
In that respect, Klobuchar’s best chance appears to lie just to the south of her home state in Iowa. While the Senator fails to register in polling at the national level or in other early states such as New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina, she has shown some signs of life in the Hawkeye State. In the RealClearPolitics average for Iowa, she is currently averaging 4.6% and can point to at least one poll where she polled as high as 8%, although this is not one of the polls the DNC is looking at to determine debate eligibility. If she can somehow manage to improve on her performance in the state before the deadline, though, she could still qualify.
If Klobuchar doesn’t make the November debate, then that would appear to be the beginning of the end of the race for her, but it may not be the end of her national ambitions. Depending on who the Democratic nominee might be, Klobuchar seems to check many of the boxes that a potential running mate would need to satisfy to earn a place on the ticket. First, she’s from the Midwest, which is going to be the crucial battleground for the 2020 election. Second, obviously, is the fact that she’s a woman, and the pressure for a Democratic nominee to pick a woman as their running mate is likely to be strong, especially if the nominee ends up being a male. Finally, between her time in the Senate and her career before becoming a Senator, she seems more than qualified to fill the role of a running mate and potential Vice-President. She’s not the only potential running mate with these points in their favor, of course, but if she isn’t the nominee, which is likely, I’d keep her in mind as a potential running mate for whoever does win the nomination.
