Sen. Klobuchar Talks New Book On WCCO Radio

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar's new book "The Senator Next Door" comes out Tuesday.

Klobuchar was a guest on the WCCO Morning News with Dave Lee Tuesday morning where she told the story of how she got going in politics.

She first got involved in activism when she had her daughter who was sick and in the ICU. At that point, mothers could only stay in the hospital for 24 hours after delivering.

She said when her daughter got out of the hospital and started getting better, she advocated for a guaranteed 48 hour hospital stay for new mothers. She said that was her first foray into the political arena and she hadn't even been elected to the legislature at that point.

Guaranteed 48 hour stays for new mothers is now a federal law.

Klobuchar got her first real taste of how elections go when she ran for Hennepin County Attorney.

She said she loved that job and "saw that you could make a difference in government and could actually get things done."

Gallery: Sen. Amy Klobuchar On WCCO Radio

Then, when a seat opened up after Dayton decided not to run, she ran for Senate. She called the run "incredible" because she said she had "no idea what that was like to raise all that money."

Klobuchar also told the story of when she decided to run.

She was at the International Eel Pout Festival on Leech Lake in a fish house with Judge Earl Moss and his wife, who was the Cass County Attorney at the time.

She explained that she was worried because of how much money she had to raise. She said Judge Moss looked at her and said, "Do you think you'd do a good job?" When she said yes, he told her to run.

As for her own White House run, Klobuchar says that's a long way off because she's loving what she's doing now.

However, she did offer her thoughts on the current field of candidates. Specifically, Donald Trump.

"It's very early on in this process, and I don't appreciate some of the things he said about people like John McCain. I think it can be very negative and not how I practice politics," she said. "I really hope we can get to the issues and have a really strong debate between the candidates."

You can hear the interview by checking out the WCCO podcast page.