Star Tribune "Winning progressive votes could be a challenge for Klobuchar" [View all]
http://www.startribune.com/winning-progressive-votes-could-be-a-challenge-for-klobuchar/505687862/
A few hours after Sen. Amy Klobuchar joined the Democratic presidential race, Our Revolution Minnesota endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders. A day earlier, the national Progressive Change Campaign Committee said it's backing Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
The moves underscored a key question for the Minnesota senator's White House campaign: Is she progressive enough to win the nomination at a time when the party's most liberal wing is ascendant?
"Her voting record is safe. It's very centrist and that's just not what we're about," said Anita Seeling of Minnetonka, vice chair of Our Revolution Minnesota's board. "We need somebody that's a champion."
Erik Hatlestad, an organizer for Democratic Socialists of America and a member of the City Council in New London, Minn., praised Klobuchar's support for the Green New Deal initiative. It calls for cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero in a decade.
"However, we're rather concerned that her commitment to other bold and popular ideas isn't across the board," Hatlestad said. She hasn't said she supports a plan known as Medicare for All that would provide universal health insurance, he noted....
...Klobuchar hasn't embraced other progressive priorities, including a $15 minimum wage and tuition-free college. She hasn't endorsed calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Kevin Chavis of Minneapolis, who chairs Our Revolution Twin Cities, liked Klobuchar's speech on Sunday and its emphasis on inequality, drug prices, data privacy, gun laws and ending divisiveness.
"She tries to find popular policies that are not too controversial," he said. "I just don't know if that's going to work this time."
Our Revolution Twin Cities hasn't endorsed a presidential candidate, Chavis said.