Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) “placed herself firmly in the center lane of the Democratic primary on Monday, calling popular progressive policy platforms ‘aspirational,’ and declining to fully commit to them,” Politico reports.

“The Minnesota Democrat called the Green New Deal ‘aspirational’ and said that Medicare-for-all is ‘something we can look to in the future,’ during a CNN town hall hosted in Manchester, N.H., on Monday night. On free four-year college, Klobuchar said: ‘No, I am not for four-year college for all.’”

“We’re starting in Wisconsin because, as you remember, there wasn’t a lot of campaigning in Wisconsin in 2016. With me, that changes… I’m going to be there a lot.”

— Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), quoted by the Washington Post, on her first presidential campaign stops.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) “leapt into the 2020 presidential race Sunday, becoming the first Midwestern state official to join the field taking on President Trump,” Politico reports.

Washington Post: “Klobuchar took pains to portray herself as someone who, with experience at the local and federal levels, would bring competence to the White House, contrasting that with the current environment of chaos and shutdowns in Washington.”

Nate Silver: “As compared to candidates such as Harris and O’Rourke, who might hope to blitz their way to victory on the basis of strong fundraising and early delegate accumulation in California and Texas, Klobuchar is probably playing a long game. But doing so requires hitting two important mile markers. First, success in the debates. And then a strong performance in the Iowa caucuses.”

Politico: “The run-up to Klobuchar’s expected presidential campaign launch on Sunday has been sidetracked by former aides, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution, who described a toxic office environment including demeaning emails, thrown office supplies and requests for staff to perform personal chores for the senator. It’s a sharp departure from the public brand that Klobuchar has built to get to this moment: a pragmatic, aw-shucks Minnesotan who gets things done and wins her state by landslide margins.”

“Klobuchar defenders, including some former staffers, have gone on the record to push back against the reports, suggesting that the critique is grounded in sexism against a woman who demands excellence from her employees.”

“But Klobuchar’s campaign has not denied any of the specific allegations detailed in recent news stories, and Democrats in the critical first caucus state of Iowa — where Klobuchar hopes to make a splash in a crowded 2020 field — say the senator’s treatment of staff has the potential to sideswipe her campaign.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) mistreatment of her office staff began more than a decade ago and eventually caused such concerns that in 2015, then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) spoke to her privately and told her to change her behavior, the HuffPost reports.

“Reid’s 2015 admonishment of Klobuchar appears to have been a rare point of intervention in a long history of complaints about Klobuchar’s behavior, which date back to at least her time as the Hennepin County attorney in Minneapolis.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has laid the grounds for a presidential run on an image of “Minnesota nice,” BuzzFeed News reports.

“But behind the doors of her Washington, DC, office, the Minnesota Democrat ran a workplace controlled by fear, anger, and shame, according to interviews with eight former staffers, one that many employees found intolerably cruel. She demeaned and berated her staff almost daily, subjecting them to bouts of explosive rage and regular humiliation within the office.”

First Read: “People often forget this about Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign: One of his strengths – in both the primaries and general election – was geography.”

“Obama’s Illinois borders Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin and Indiana, and Obama won all of these states in either the primaries/caucuses (Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin) or the general election in 2008 (Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana).”

“And part of the potential that Klobuchar brings to the 2020 Democratic field is the ability to replicate this Obama strength from 2008. Minnesota, after all, borders Iowa (whose caucuses could be more important than ever this cycle), as well as Wisconsin (which could be 2020’s all-important battleground state in the general election).”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is heading to Iowa this month, another sign the Minnesota Democrat is closing in on a 2020 launch, Politico reports.

Minneapolis Star Tribune: “See this Minneapolis Park Board permit application for an event at Boom Island Park Saturday, at 11 a.m. The name of the event is ‘Bold North Winter Celebration,’ which I’m pretty sure is not a thing. (Feel free to tell me I’m wrong.) If you look at the layout of the event, it shows press risers and parking for media trucks. So there will be TV at this ‘Bold North Celebration’? Hmmm. (Is Bob Dylan playing a free show!?)”

“The applicant is Jeannette Cleland of North Star Events, aka former First Lady Michelle Obama’s deputy director of scheduling and one time scheduler for… Sen. Amy Klobuchar.”

Fresh off her re-election win, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) told ABC News that she’s still considering a presidential bid in 2020.

Said Klobuchar :”People are talking to me about this, I think in part because I’ve worked really hard to go not just where it’s comfortable, but where it’s uncomfortable and did well in a number of those places where Donald Trump won. I’m also someone, for those that are exhausted with politics, that likes to get stuff done.”

Washington Post: “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.”

“Yet more and more, she is finding herself earning strong reviews from partisan crowds, often on the strength of understated moments such as Thursday’s and the idea that she is essentially the complete antithesis of Trump. Where he’s brash, extreme and exuding machismo, she’s subtle, bookish, bipartisan and a woman in a party that is increasingly nominating female candidates.”

From a Cosmopolitan profile of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN):

There, I spoke to an older couple who told me their daughter was good friends with Klobuchar in middle school. “We always knew she’d make it big in politics,” I remember the wife telling me. “She used to have a shirt she’d wear at sleepovers that said, ‘I’d rather be president.’ We knew she’d be in the White House someday.”

Klobuchar still has a 2018 reelection campaign to contend with before any presidential maneuvering can really begin. Yet despite the factors that weigh against Democrats this midterm — lower turnout in non-presidential years, more Democratic senators up for reelection than Republicans — Klobuchar is looking very safe in her seat.