...to win we have to have a candidate that can win and that doesn't just eke by that victory. So here's my proof point. I come to you with receipts. I am the one that has won every single race, every place, every time, all the way down to fourth grade, back when my slogan, which I have since discarded, was all the way with Amy K.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL-MN)
Town Hall
Historic Northwestern Hotel Building
Des Moines, Iowa
Sunday, January 26, 2020

[DEMOCRACY IN ACTION TRANSCRIPT]

Thank you so much. This is absolutely incredible, and I can't tell you what it means to have all of you here to send me off to go back to Washington early tomorrow morning. And I never thought that I would not be able to be here the last week before the caucus. I never thought that. When I started out, announcing in the middle of that blizzard, for one thing I think a lot of people didn't even think I was going to get through that announcement, much less to the top five standing for this caucus. And my plan from the very beginning is to go every place everywhere. That's why I visited all 99 counties in Iowa.

I may have done it twice if I had the time. But instead I'm here with all of you. So I'm really depending on you, which is what grassroots politics are all about, to talk to your friends, to talk to your neighbors, to tell them what you hear from me.

And I want to thank, of course, Jean [Hessburg] for that beautiful introduction and your leadership. Thank you so much, Jackie Wellman who's been there with me, giving me advice all the time.  Thank you Jackie.

We have Ako [Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad] is here somewhere here, my favorite—oh, right over there.
My friend [inaud.] from the very first time he took me through the Iowa farmers market with his parrot that at the time was more popular than me.  And so, thank you for your leadership.

And then of course we also have with us Bill Brauch, Iowa State Central Committee member. Where are you, Bill? You're right, oh up there. Yes. There you are right there looking down on us. Thank you. Thank you people on the balcony just stay back; don't get too excited.  For the safety of everyone down here.

Anyway, so we have had an incredible day. We started in Waterloo and had a huge crowd there and then went to Ames, and I was so proud to get the endorsement of Ross Wilburn there, who had been supporting—he's a legislator and former mayor who had been supporting my friend Kamala—and it was just such an honor to have his endorsement and then to come here to see all of you.

You know, this trial, I have had a lot of time to think sitting there.

And that's good, that's good. And a lot of time to think about—I sort of sit in the middle of the chamber near my friend Sherrod Brown, and we have a [inaud.] really good group, but we sit sort of near the middle of the aisle, so I have a complete view of where my Republican colleagues, and I watch them, I see how they react to things. And I just keep thinking to myself, you know, we did not run for these jobs to be U.S. senators, to represent America, just so we could, I mean its a weird fact that you don't know, just so we could buy our Senate chair at the end to have it in our office. That's not why we did this. We did not run for the job to have the title for life, or to have a trophy on our wall. We ran for this office because we're supposed to represent the people of America, and you [inaud. due to applause]

It does not say at the beginning of the founding documents of our country—the Constitution—it doesn't say we the ruling party; it says we the people.  And a fair trial [inaud. due to applause]

...vote on Impeachment. I'm not actually focused on that as much right now as I am focused on fairness and getting to the truth and getting to the information out because if we have a country where things are hidden, then we are no better than other countries that hide things all the time. We are a country that we're supposed to get to the truth. That's what trials are about; that's what this impeachment proceeding is supposed to be about.

And if you have checked the news this morning, I have said all week that I want to hear from the people in the room where it happened. And I was on one of the Sunday shows today following one of my Republican colleagues who said well the evidence that the House managers put out was circumstantial. I'm like okay does that beg the question or what. I don't agree with that. But that means you want to hear the real evidence from the person in the room where it happened. And so what we found out tonight, New York Times report, what we found out tonight, is that Bolton has a book coming out—Bolton who actually wants to testify—has a book coming out, in which he definitively says, according to this news report—I have not seen it—that in fact the President was holding up that aid. He has said this in the book, holding up the aid to get the investigation.

It says it right there in this book. So I don't know how my Republican colleagues can not call for witnesses. Senator Romney has called for witnesses. They should all be calling for witnesses [inaud. due to applause]

70% of the American people believe we should have witnesses. and we should be able—every trial we've ever had. I was actually one of the people that heard the evidence of the last impeachment trial of a federal judge a few years ago; we had dozens of witnesses. And so all we're trying to get— they may make their own decisions about how they vote; that is up to them, but they cannot deny us a fair trial, they cannot deny America a fair trial. So that is why I am going back on the 6 a.m. flight out of Des Moines.  But until that 6 a.m. flight, I am going for it.

The impeachment proceeding actually, to me, leads into what this election is about because I may be a juror in that chamber, just not like some isolated jury box of 12 people can never talk right, We're there representing our states, but you are also a jury; you're a jury to decide this election, and to decide this prim—this caucus, and to decide who should be leading the ticket. And to me, though, they have something in common. And we talk a lot on the debate stage—I love the debates, by the way. I'm looking forward, I'm one of seven people on the debate stage in New Hampshire coming up.

You are the jury. And I think what you see is on that debate stage we have heartfelt discussions about economics and what the best economic plans are and that is really important because so many people aren't sharing in the prosperity of this country. The President gloats about the stock market and takes credit for stuff that he didn't do and all that's happening. But meanwhile, there are a lot of people hurting, including people that he promised things to, You know, we've got farmers that are struggling. 25% increase in farm bankruptcy. We have got closures of biodiesel plants in Crawfordsville.

I mentioned at the debate the guy that was the last man standing in that plant who was designated to just stay to maintain the equipment and he took out a coat rack with all of his former fellow workers' uniforms, with their names embroidered Mark, Derek, Salvador, and he said these are my friends; these were my co-workers. I don't know if they're ever coming back again.

People who are struggling to pay for insulin because this president had promised he was going to do about something about pharmaceuticals. He has done nothing. People that want to see their premiums done. He does nothing but try to repeal the Affordable Care Act. We could go through each economic issue. We know that, but we have to remember there are people watching out there. They see this economic check; they get that, but they're also people that see it a different way. They may not agree with everything we say on the debate stage. I don't agree with everything I hear on the debate stage. But what they do agree with us on, they agree that America has a heart that is bigger than the heart of the guy in the White House.

They see this, and their role in this, and you saw this some in the 2018 elections in Iowa and in the congressional races, We just saw it by the way in Kentucky and Louisiana, where in Louisiana we re-elected a Democratic governor and in Kentucky we elected a Democratic governor so that Mitch McConnell now has a Democratic governor.

And that was by the way a coalition of our fired up Democratic base, just like it's going to be here in Iowa, and independents and moderate Republicans and people coming together to say no. And you know what those two states, Louisiana and Kentucky have a common, besides being redder than Iowa, but a Democrat still won in them? Besides that, someone went to campaign there the night before the election for their opponents. It was Donald Trump. So my first question to all of you is where can we send him next?

And you think about, and here's another proof point, there are 31 counties in Iowa, 31 counties that voted for Barack Obama. One of them, I was in one that he won by 20 points, but then turned around and voted for Donald Trump. So you know there are people there in those counties. Sometimes people stayed home, including in our own fired up base in 2016. Sometimes people voted for other people besides Donald Trump; sometimes they voted for Donald Trump, but we have to remember that those people are out there, and they see this election, many of them, as a values check. They are tired of having a president, where they—even if they voted for him—and they turn on the TV, and they have to turn down and mute the volume because they don't want their kids to hear when he's going to say. 

They see it as a patriotism check like so many of us do. This is a president that stood next to Vladimir Putin. And when a reporter asked about interference by Russia in our election, he turned to Putin, a ruthless dictator, and made a joke about it. A joke to a guy that basically poisons political dissidents, a joke to a guy that finances groups that took down a plane of innocent people over Ukraine, a joke to a guy that decided to invade Crimea and thousands and thousands of Ukrainians have died trying to defend their country and their democracy. He makes a joke.

And when I saw that I thought, hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost their lives on the battlefield standing up for our democracy anld democracies around the world—that's what World War II was about. When I was in Waterloo, today, I heard about those five Sullivan brothers. They lost their lives standing up for democracy. Four little girls at the height of the civil rights movement in that church in Birmingham, Alabama, they lost their lives, innocent, simply because they were trying to be a part of this democracy. People were fighting for them to expand that democracy, and other people were trying to push it away from them. So many of the great moments and the worst moments in our country have been about our democracy, they have been about our Constitution, and this guy turns to Vladimir Putin and makes a joke about it. That's what I'm talking about.

The decency check. Probably best example of that is coming right out here out of Iowa. And that is from Primgar Iowa many many years ago. Someone who grew up Joseph Welch, the son of immigrants, a big family, humble beginnings. I actually went there to try to find his house on Google Maps. I didn't have much luck. I found a street that was named after him. He rose up from that humble beginning to become the highest lawyer for the U.S. Army; he became the counsel for the U.S. Army. And when Joseph McCarthy, the Senator from Wisconsin, was going after people way back then, about their political beliefs, or about their supposed political beliefs or having them blacklisted so they couldn't work, there was one man that stood up because so many people were afraid. They thought, if they stood up someone in their family would lose their job, or they would lose their job. This guy from Primgar, Iowa, he stood up, and he looked at McCarthy, and he said, "Sir. Have you no sense of decency? At long last have you no sense of decency?" That is this election; that is this moment for our country.

So when you look at all the reasons people are going to turn out, and people are going to vote, don't you forget that this is not just an economic check. It is also a decency check, a decency check. It is a patriotism check. And so my profound advice after all of that is we better not screw this up. Because we have [inaud. due to applause]

There are people that want to go with us. I first saw the glimmer of it, was a guy in the middle of Minnesota who is a cattle rancher and showed me around his cattle ranch on this ATV, and we dodged in and out of the big cows, and I thought this is not how I want to die. ...Bringing me into his house and everyone had left and then he looked at me he said you know we, we voted for Trump. And I said, what do you mean, the ranchers? your family? And he said no I don't like to talk about myself. I never do it. I meant I did but I say we. We voted for him, and he says we did it because of health care; we were mad.

And he said, and then we saw him in front of the wall. And I said the wall, the wall hadn't been built. And he said, no, no the CIA wall. The wall of all the stars. That was when Donald Trump, the day after the inauguration gave this partisan, partisan speech about the size of his crowd in front of this sacred wall covered in the stars of CIA agents who've lost their lives in the line of duty,. They don't even have names on them; they anonymously sacrificed for our country. And he gave this speech in front of that wall, and this guy noticed it.

And then he said, [inaud.] time later, time goes by, and he said, then there was the Boy Scout rally. And he said I was a Boy Scout and then I told him home my husband, grew up in Mankato was— is one of six boys. Actually his mom and dad had four boys, and she wanted to have a girl so she got pregnant again and had identical twin boys.

They lived at the time in a trailer home, triple bunk beds. They were, the parents were scout leaders. All six of the boys went into Boy Scouts; five of six got to be Eagle Scouts and I never say which one didn't make it because I don't want to embarrass my husband.

So I told this guy the story and then he said, Yeah, well for me I was proud to a Boy Scout, he said, and then I saw. I stood there and I watched that on TV, and I saw Trump giving this political speech to all those young people, and that's not what you do. That's not what you do. And he said at that moment I realized what I did for me, he said, here comes down. it wasn't patriotism, it wasn't patriotism.

Then there's a guy in New Hampshire in a long line of voters; they're all wearing these happy stickers that say: I'm a climate change voter, I'm a Supreme Court voter, I'm a reproductive rights voter, and this guy comes by in a brown jacket. I said, Sir, you're not wearing a sticker. And he says, [whispers] Yeah, well that's because I was a Trump voter and these are my neighbors and I have not told them. Do not say anything, but I am doing it again.

I am talking about building this big coalition, a big tent of our fired up base, of moderate Republicans, of independents, of people like Andy McKean that was a Republican for so long in the legislature and then changed parties. People like Dave Johnson, who was just with me in Ames, who'd been a Republican, and then changed parties, both of whom have endorsed me.

I think we can build this big, big coalition, because if you want to eke by a victory at four in the morning. That's great. That'll be sweet. But that state that we eke by at four a.m., I can tell you it won't be Iowa if that's how this goes. I want to win big. I believe in my heart, if we put the right candidate in charge of this ticket, we can win Iowa. We can send Mitch McConnell [inaud. due to applause]

So how do we do this? The first I mentioned already, is understanding where people are coming from.

The second is by thinking about how we, when we talking to people you know, how we talk about Donald Trump. Yeah, he's a bully, he goes after people of color, he goes after immigrants, he tries to create wedges in any way he can. That's not leadership. But when I went on this tour a few months ago to the states that did not vote for our ticket in 2016 but then came roaring back in 2018—and if you don't think we can win the Midwest I have four words for you, former Governor Scott Walker.

I met with dock workers in Michigan and carpenters in Pennsylvania and dairy farmers in Wisconsin, of course went to Ohio and Iowa and in Minnesota my own state, where Hillary had the lowest percentage of any state that she won. And my first plan after going to those states, is that we are going to build a beautiful blue wall of Democratic votes around these states and we are going to make Donald Trump pay for it.

The second thing is to put yourself in the shoes of some of these people. You know, what they see in him—some people voted for him and some people didn't —what they see in him they think to themselves, you know, when things go bad for me, when I can't afford insulin for my kid, or if I can't afford college for someone my family, or if I can't afford to pay the rent or to pay the mortgage I just got to take out a loan or, I've got to work harder, or my spouse has to go back to work or they think through the whole thing. But then they see this guy, and they realize he's got the best job in the world. He lives in this fancy house. His dad gave him by the way over the course of his career, $413 million. My case, and I can't wait to say this to him—yeah that's right that's a lot of money. [inaud.] Love is more important, right.

So in my case, my grandpa, he worked 1,500 feet underground in the mines up in northern Minnesota. He never got to graduate from high school because he had nine brothers and sisters. His parents were sick; they died very, very young when he was in his early 20s. And he worked his whole life. He had wanted to be in the Navy. And he would go down every day in that cage with this black lunch bucket that my grandma would pack for him. And back then when the whistles went off everyone would run to the mine because it meant someone was killed. They didn't know if was your husband or your brother or your kid. And then, what made it safer? Unions made it safer.

My dad remembers the caskets in the Catholic Church, before the unions came in and made it safer. So that was my grandpa. And then he and my grandma saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to a two-year community college. And I can tell you you cannot fit $413 million in a coffee can.

That was my family's trust. And I figure if you are given opportunity from someone, whether it's a parent or a grandparent whether it's someone at work, whether it's a teacher, that you go into the world, not with a sense of entitlement like this guy. You go into the world with a sense of opportunity, a sense of obligation, an obligation to lift people up instead of tearing them down, an obligation to help people that need the help the most instead of hoarding it for yourself.

And that is my story. And I'd add one more thing. My mom, she grew up in Milwaukee, the site of our next convention. She went to Minnesota because they had a strong teachers union, and she taught second grade until she was 70 years old.

So I stand before you today as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner as the daughter of a union teacher and a newspaperman, as the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of Minnesota, and a candidate for president of the United States.

That is the country of shared dreams, where no matter who you know or where you come from or how much money you have or who you love or where you worship that you can make it in the United States. And that is what this guy is missing.

I think about that old story about FDR. When he died, they put his body on a train. And they took that car with his body through America, and there's a story of a reporter that was standing by the tracks and there was a guy, regular guy, had his hat off, standing there by the train and he's sobbing. And the reporter says to the guy excuse me, did you know President Roosevelt? Did you know him? And the guy says, no, I didn't know the president, but he knew me. That is what's missing in the White House right now. It is missing. It is empathy. The empathy is missing from the White House right now.

So when we think about people out there that feel like this guy has not met the promises, you can remember what they see. They see; they see him walking by that helicopter and nice house whining, just like literally whining. That's what he does. Literally if something goes wrong, other people have to go get a loan or go get another job. What does he do? He whines. He blames other people. He blames Barack Obama. That is one of his major people to blame. So sad. He blames the head of the Federal Reserve, whom he gave the job to; and that guy's just trying to do his job. He blames the city of Baltimore. You think about those kids, waking up in the morning seeing that the president the United States has gone after their city and called it rat-infested. He did that. He blamed, and here's one of my favorite ones, the entire country of Denmark. Who does that? That's what he does.

He goes to the G20, or no to NATO and people are, of course some of the leaders are caught on tape making fun of him. I've heard senators say worse things about other senators all the time. But what does he do? Instead of laughing it off, making a joke, acting big about it, he is so thin-skinned,he leaves, They have not finished the work of the conference, and he walks, he quits. America doesn't quit.

When we think about how we talk about him to people that we know, especially in this state, where there are 31 counties that voted for Barack Obama and then voted for Donald Trump, when you think of the voter turnout you want to get out there, you have to remember this way of thinking about things because it's not intuitive sometimes because there's so many negative things to think about him, including that he told over 15,000 lies, but we just have to remember this piece about those unmet promises and the whining and the complaining.

The third thing, the most important thing, is an optimistic economic agenda for this country. And Hillary would have been a great president and she had a lot of good ideas, but somehow, no one had ever run against someone like Donald Trump. And literally, not just her, everyone was going down every rabbit hole right. People were just, you know, and so we lost track of that optimistic economic agenda, and yet there are so many people that don't believe that he is helping them. And what do I mean?

I mean health care. And if you look at this practically with the Affordable Care Act, just remember this, the Affordable Care Act is now nearly 10 points more popular than the guy in the White House.

I believe I am a practical progressive, right. I am a practical progressive, and so I believe we need to be practical about this and not blow the whole thing up. When you come to troubled waters, we know this in states that have a lot of water and rivers, we tend to want to build a bridge over it, instead of blowing one up. That is why I believe we need to build on the Affordable Care Act. You do that, you bring the premiums down with a nonprofit public option, something Barack Obama wanted to do from the very beginning.

...take on the pharmaceutical companies, something I have been doing since I got to Washington. To give you a sense of what's gone on because it, all this can sound like gobbledgook. There are two pharma lobbyists for every member of Congress. They think they own Washington, and they do, but they don't own me.

If you...about what's happening with Medicare and the negotiations. This is what they did before I got there. They got written into law, into law, it's in there in our laws, that bans Medicare on behalf of 43 million seniors from negotiating less expensive drug prices. Banned in law. Medicaid can do it. The VA can do it. Medicare can't do it. [audience member: Chuck Grassley did that.]

Thank you for that insight, that historical insight. Well I lead the bill. I lead the bill. I have 34 co-sponsors. I lead the bill to take those words off the law books. [inaud.] And as president I will get it done.

We can bring in less expensive drugs from other countries. In Minnesota, we can see Canada from our porch and we see those less expensive drugs. We can do that. And we have gotten Republican votes for this in the past. We can put a cap, and that's a bill in the House right now, on the price of drugs that'is tied to the international average. That bill according to the Congressional Budget Office score would save taxpayers, ready for this, $350 billion in 10 years. That is the kind of money we are talking about.

I know we can get this done. I can as president. That thing I raised about bringing less expensive drugs from other countries, I figured out that I can do this myself without Congress by applying for a waiver. In fact, I have found 137 things in my hundred-day plan that a president can do without Congress that are legal.

FDR did this, going back to him again, he did this because we were in an economic crisis. Well we have a trust crisis right now and we have a lot of other crisises going on. That's why having a jumpstart on this, laying out exactly what you want to do to your friends and your foes, some of the things I'll support some of the things I won't, but getting it out there the things you're going to do without Congress, and then the things you want to do with Congress is really key to this. As I noted I have passed over 100 bills as the lead Democrat, more than anyone running for president that is in Congress.  [inaud.]

Mental health, opioids. For me this is personal. My dad struggled with alcoholism his whole life. By the time my husband and I got married, he had three DWIs. And on that third one, the judge said you gotta choose: treatment or jail. And he chose treatment and it changed his life and in his words he was pursued by grace, because of the treatment, because of his family, because of his friends, because of his faith. I think everyone should have that same right.

And that means things like, and my plan is a big one, it means taking that opioid money that's gonna come in, and it's gonna be a big legal settlement. Oh by the way, it's a good time to have a lawyer as president. Because it's gonna be like that tobacco settlement but we have to make sure that the money goes out to where it should go, to the places that are having epidemics with opioids, still with meth, still with crack cocaine, alcoholism, but also with mental health, And we've got to make sure that money goes to areas that really need the help. Right now Iowa only has 64 public mental health beds in your entire state.

I was in Wapello and a school counselor got off work, and she told me that that one day a town with this high school with 650 kids that she'd had four kids in one day come up to her with thoughts of suicide. And here's the sad part, they were all immigrant kids. Their parents worked at the plant. They were all legitimately worried that their whole families were going to be deported, their whole life as they knew it was going to be taken away.

So that means of course changing a bad, bad immigration policy and that change would be so much better for Iowa let me tell you, but it also means, mental health help and counselors and making sure we take this on and we get rid of the stigma when one in five Americans suffer from mental illness some time in their life.

Next big thing. Long-term care. You couldn't even fit this problem—it's like the elephant in the room. No one's dealing with it. Yet we should. We should strengthen Social Security, we should make sure that Medicaid is strong, but we can even do more than that. And that is strengthening long term care by making it easier to get long term care insurance and planning ahead. And then for people who want to stay in their home to make it easier. By the way this is not just an issue for seniors; it is also an issue for people like my age and younger who are in the sandwich generation, who are taking care of their own kids or sending their kids to college, while they're also taking care of aging parents.

In my own family I mentioned my dad; he is in assisted living now, he's 91. And by the way, he is now sober after all those years when he joined AA. His group still visits him in assisted living. And as he said about a year and a half ago to me, it's hard to get a drink around here anyway.

He is there, because he got long term care insurance, and I didn't know he gotten that. He's got about a year and a half, two years left of that, then we go in to savings—they're not a lot, he got married three times but that's for another, another time. He then goes on Medicaid, and I know exactly when that date is like so many other families. And I talked to Catholic elder care, and they said they'll take him in, but he cannot stay where he is now because they don't take Medicaid.

Our story's a good one because he got that long term care insurance. And so how do we pay for helping people with this, I found this really elegant solution. I talked to a rich guy in Massachusetts and then we checked this out and this is true. A lot of wealthy people, they get trust funds for their kids. Now that's fine, but maybe up to $500,000, you could then start after $500,000, you could start taxing the appreciation—that means the gain; it doesn't mean the whole amount—you start taxing that gain, in 10 years you would bring in $100 billion and that money could go right to help people with long term care.

That is the kind of things—I have showed him I'm going to pay for everything I do, because I am sick and tired of this president treating our deficit, treating all of you, like, like poker chips in one of his bankrupt casinos. Because if we don't [inaud.] start working down on the deficit, all of its gonna be on this kid's shoulders. Yeah. That is what we're doing. And so making sure that we think like this and show how we're going to pay for things but think for the long term is what we need to do.

Okay, other challenges. Matching our education system with the jobs that are out there now. On the debate stage in Des Moines, I said to my colleagues, my friendly colleagues, I said you know what, I actually think you guys aren't thinking big enough, because I know some of these things all look nice on a bumper sticker, but if you really think big, then you say to yourself, how can we match our education system with our economy? Instead of just giving like free college for all, let's look at this, step back a little. How do we match our education system with our economy? Well, let's look at what the job openings are.

We are going to have over a million openings for home health care workers in this country that we do not know how we're going to fill. There's no plan for how we're going to fill them because of the aging of the population. We're going to have over 100,000 openings for nursing assistants in the nation. We are going to have over 70,000 openings for electricians. We are not going to have a shortage of sports marketing degrees or MBAs. We are going to havesorry sports marketing degree [inaud.]. We are going to have. Oops, there's always one. We are going to have a shortage of plumbers, that is true. So how do we match all this up?

Well, we put money into K through 12. You all know the prize of Iowa's education system, and what's been happening because of the legislature and the governor. We put money into K through 12 from the federal level. We make one and two year degrees free, including apprenticeships so we support union apprenticeships, which are a great way of getting people into some really good jobs. We take the four-year degrees—there's gonna be a lot of openings for jobs with four-year degrees—and we double the Pell Grants. That means goes from six to 12,000 a year, double the income level to 50 to 100,000 that you can apply for those Pell grants. It''ll make it so much better, they can be used in public and private schools, and then you have a much better situation because you're looking at it as what's our economy and you respect the dignity of work.

So for those home health care workers, I would take part of [inaud.] Mar-a-Lago when he went down there and celebrated that tax bill and said to all his friends down at Mar-a-Lago, he said, this true, I can't wait this is Exhibit A, he said, You just got a lot richer.

Was anyone there? I don't want to embarrass anyone if you were there. I doubt really anyone from Iowa was there but I don't want to embarrass you. But if you look at that money that was in that tax bill and you put it in things like childcare so that those people who want to go, that we go into home health care workers, have a good wage, that they've got childcare, that they got things. That's where I want to put the money, and addition to these other education things.

Then you allow students to refinance their student loans. If millionaires can refinance their yachts, maybe we can do that.

And then you look at that loan payback program that's in place. The first solution is really straightforward. I wouldn't just do this in the first 100 days. I would do it in the first 100 seconds. That would be fire Betsy de Vos.

The second thing is to make that program work better so you phase it in, you make it work better and then you can actually extend it to in-demand occupations. There's list of them; some of them are four year degrees, some are one year degrees, and then make it easier for people and help them to get their loans paid back. So that's what I would do. That's thinking big in my mind.

Next, climate change, something that is not just happening 100 years from now; it is happening now. It is not just happening on the coasts. We know its big there with the hurricanes and the rising sea levels and the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, but it's happening right here in Iowa. And I think what better person to make that case and think of a policy that works for the Midwest, than someone from the Midwest. [inaud. because of applause]

You saw the record floods, what happened in Missouri into Nebraska and Iowa. I see it through the binoculars of my friend Fran near Pacific Junction.

She showed me and she said, This is my house. I bought it with my husband. We lived there with ouir four year olds. I wanted to retire in this house. I love the kitchen. I love the way the light comes in the windows in the kitchen. It's been standing here nearly 100 years; there is horsehair the plaster.

And I say, Where's the kitchen?

She said, No, no the whole first floor is underwater.

And then I say, Where's the river? It's raging water, and I think Fran you bought a house on the river.

She says, No no no that's the road. The river is two and a half miles away. And it's never come this close before.

That is climate change in Iowa.

Raising, rising homeowner's rates, homeowner insurance rates that we're seeing. We have to make this economic case. Then, we need a solution that people are going to accept, because it actually works for them. And so what is that? Well that is on day one, getting back into the international climate change agreement.

When we got out of that agreement, Nicaragua and Syria were the only countries not in it. Now they are in it. Doing the clean power rules, something that President Obama had negotiated over years. Bringing back the gas mileage standards that would save money for people that again, President Obama had negotiated over the years. And then, introducing sweeping legislation to put a price on carbon. Now, that's easy to say, but how do we do it so it works for everyone? And by the way, it will work because then that creates the incentives right, that creates the incentives for the technology. And I'm saying this to a state that produced Norman Borlaug that saved a billion people's lives. I think you have the creativity to see that we can get this done, we just don't know what the technology... [inaud. because of applause]

When you put the price on carbon, it's going to bring in, our plan, two trillion dollars, well you've got to make sure that money goes right back for the people that are going to see changes in their heating bills, in their cooling bills, to areas of the country that are going to see changes, and that are going to need that kind of investment in manufacturing because you know there's going to be a whole bunch of new jobs, including of course Iowa which is the Saudi Arabia of wind. North Dakota [inaud.]

So we know all this, [inaud.] building the electric grid and all kinds of things, but we got to make sure that those are good jobs, and we also have to make sure that people are kept whole and we have to make it airtight or we're never going to get the votes. And so for me, this is important policy, but I also feel it in my heart. I brought up my grandpa. When I was growing up, those iron ore mines, they would close and open, close and open. By the way they're open now because we've done a ton over the last five, six, seven years on steel dumping, and, from China, and we were able to get that done so that those mines opened up again.

But over time, those mines have opened and closed and through some ingenuity in Duluth and other things and tourism and stuff we've done, it's going really great right now but it wasn't over a lot of the history. I still remember a billboard that they put up outside of Duluth, and I'd go up there to visit my grandparents and the billboard would say, last one to leave turn off the lights. So I have lived this. And so for me it's going to be personal and we've got to make that case so we make sure that people know that when we pass this bill that's so important for our future that it works for people.

Last thing I'll mention which is immigration reform. I think it is very important. I look at it economically. I worked on the bills twice now, once with President Bush, who wanted to valiantly get it done. And then Barack Obama. And the whole idea here is to make this work as well, for people, for our economy, because immigrants don't diminish America, they are America.

The very last thing I will say to you before I turn it to a pumpkin, and I have to go back and get ready for the day tomorrow and study up for the, what we're going to be hearing from the president's lawyers and the work that I have to do, before I do that, I just want to make the case for the number one thing that we have to do, and that is win.

And to win we have to have a candidate that can win and that doesn't just eke by that victory. So here's my proof point. I come to you with receipts. I am the one that has won every single race, every place, every time, all the way down to fourth grade, back when my slogan, which I have since discarded, was all the way with Amy K. I am the one that in that last election flipped 42 counties that Donald Trump had won. I am the one with big victory margins in districts like the one that mirrors the Iowa district which will soon be held by JD. [inaud.] the district right above it in Minnesota, which is now held by a Republican congressman, every single time, three times in a row. The district that borders North and South Dakota, every single time, three times in a row. Northern Minnesota, where the steel workers are, every single time. And yes, every single time, Michele Bachmann's district.

I go not just where it's comfortable but where it is uncomfortable, by reaching out to people, by seeing a victory as not as my personal victory, but a national victory. That is why I have more endorsements of Iowa state legislators and former legislators than anyone in this race because they [inaud. due to applause].

So that is my case, and my case is one of victory. And my case is one of being in the top five when no one thought I was going to be there in the middle of that snowstorm.

I am so proud to have recently gotten the endorsement of the New York Times as well as the Quad City Times. [inaud.] pointed out that day that the New York Times may have one city in its name but the Quad City has four [inaud.] that it covers. And then just last night we found out that I was endorsed by the biggest newspaper in the state of New Hampshire, the Union Leader.

[inaud.] because I have to think of the whole country and our path to victory, to a double digit poll in New Hampshire, NBC, that literally puts me within three to four points of the other leading candidates in this race.

We are going to win this the right way, but I cannot do it without all of you.

And I will end with this because I know how important it is for you guys to get out there and talk to people and do the right thing and pick the right candidate. I will say this has been such a journey. My favorite meeting about getting someone's support was Kay, the former mayor of Cedar Rapids, after an hour long lunch, said to me, I got some real good news for you. I said what Kay? She said I am 78% with you. She got to 100% and so can you.

[inaud.] they would love to get those commit to caucus cards, right; they would love to get them. You want to raise your—. They're there. We have them right here, right here. We have, everywhere. They're in every corner; you can't escape them. We would love to have you do that, but more importantly for me, I need you as my ambassadors. I need you out there volunteering and helping us.

Paul Wellstone was one of my political mentors, and that, that is why I picked the color green for our color; it that's simple. That is why we have that green bus. And that, to me, was Paul, and Paul, when he got into politics, no one thought he was going win. And he would talk really, really, really fast in all his ads because he said I have less money than my opponents so I have to talk really fast. And his other hallmark is that he would run really fast back and forth in the parade routes. Well the last year of his life, which was cut short, he was running for reelection, and he died tragically in this plane crash. And by the way we think of Kobe Bryant's family today, and hold them in our hearts. But he died tragically, in this not helicopter crash, this a plane crash; and he was with Sheila, their daughter, their beloved staff members, and he was taken away from us. And he was that was a year he had taken this incredibly courageous vote. He voted against the war in Iraq, and he was the only person in a hard seat that did that but he was still going to win.

And it was also the year that I was actually up for reelection myself for county attorney I had no opponent; it sounds really nice right now. And so I decided to help him, and I spent a lot of time with him. And my lasting memory of that year was he had told the state that he had MS, and so he was in a lot of pain, and he could no longer run back and forth really fast, in those parades. He couldn't really run at all. So instead, he would stand on the back of that bus next to Sheila and he would wave. But here's the incredible part. There were so many people that he had energized in these green shirts running around that bus that you didn't even notice he wasn't running himself.

And that is what I'm asking you to do for me. I wanted to be here; I really did. I love grassroots politics and I would have been everywhere doing these events in every town, but I can't, because I've got a job to do. And I'm going to get back there because we have something called the Constitution that I believe in.

I don't have the bank account of some of my opponents; you won't see Super Bowl ad from me, maybe if the Vikings had been there. [inaud.] But, okay, I'm going to lose the crowd. [inaud.] My dad once wrote a book, Will the Vikings Ever Win the Super Bowl?, which is sadly still relevant today.

So what I need you to do is to run around that bus for me, and to sign up those cards and to call and volunteer—not just to be like okay, yeah I'll go to the caucus, see how she does—but to actually help us, to build this grassroots movement that if I was out there I would be doing right now because we're at a moment where we're surging, where we are adding people. We've doubled our staff, and we're going up with these polls, and I need your help more than ever, so please join us. Please join us. Join us for that Constitution. Join us for the simple idea that this state and these caucuses have picked people that no one thought was ever going to win at the beginning, but you had the wisdom to think you know what this person deserves a chance. This person deserves a ticket out of Iowa to be able to go forward. And I'm asking you to do that for me. Thank you.

###
__________________

Observations: This was Klobuchar's sixth and final event of the weekend before she headed back to Washington for the impeachment trial. She spoke for 49-plus minutes, demonstrating the breadth and depth of her policy knowledge.