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Capitol View®
Bill Wareham

Daily Digest: Klobuchar’s profile rises at hearings

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Welcome to a new week. If you took a break from the news since Friday you missed how prominently Sen. Amy Klobuchar's interactions with Brett Kavanaugh have played seemingly everywhere. Your Monday Digest kicks off with some of that coverage.

1. Klobuchar's presidential prospects analyzed. It may not have been the most pivotal moment of Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but for many it was the most cringeworthy. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked the federal judge and Supreme Court nominee whether he had ever been blackout drunk. Kavanaugh, still worked up from an angry 45-minute opening statement accusing Democrats of seeking to derail his nomination, threw the question back at Klobuchar. The scene at the hearing — in which Kavanaugh was defending himself against allegations of sexual assault — has at once thrust Klobuchar into the national spotlight and reinforced what could be her central shortcoming as a 2020 contender for the presidency. In a party that by most accounts is searching for liberals and powerful personalities to counteract President Trump, Klobuchar has crafted a brand almost diametrically opposed to that. In many ways, Klobuchar’s running and winning in 2020 would defy conventional wisdom, just as Trump did in 2016. (Washington Post)

2. Getting the SNL treatment. Saturday Night Live kicked off its 44th season with a sketch many expected in some form or another: a send-up of the emotionally charged hearings into the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Among the many politicians portrayed in the opening sketch: Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, as played by comedian and SNL alum Rachel Dratch. (MPR News)

3. How Johnson, Walz would respond to opioid crisis. Minnesota's two contenders for governor split Friday in their approaches to tackling the opioid overdose crisis and to expanding the availability of legal marijuana. The topics arose during and after back-to-back appearances by Republican Jeff Johnson and DFLer Tim Walz at a conference focused on substance abuse, particularly opioids.Johnson and Walz agreed on this: Addiction to prescription painkillers and other opiates is a significant problem and the state needs to respond. (MPR News)

4. Onslaught of ads signal campaign stakes. On it goes, day after day and night after night, a back-to-back barrage of spirited pleas and scorching attacks that won’t let up for six more weeks. During a single break in one local TV news broadcast last week, spots by candidates and their allies accounted for 17 of the 23 total commercials that aired during the program. Millions of dollars are being spent on ads in this battleground state this year, especially in a handful of fierce contests for Congress. The ads are a constant reminder of the extremely high political stakes in Minnesota’s congressional contests in this midterm election.  (Star Tribune)

5. Sex assault investigations hindered by staffing issues. Scant or nonexistent training for police officers who investigate sexual assaults is a chronic problem across Minnesota. Most of the state’s largest law enforcement agencies don’t require it. Neither does the state board that oversees the licensing and training of police officers. Constant turnover and thin ranks compound the problem. (Star Tribune)