photo of elena kagan during confirmation hearing
Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s questioning of Elena Kagan during the Supreme Court justice’s confirmation hearing was mentioned in a New York Times article about the senator’s sense of humor. Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Welcome to this week’s edition of the D.C. Memo. This week, a new Minnesota Democratic primary poll, Omar and Sanders take to the arena and Klobuchar qualifies for the December debate. Let’s get on with this.

A new Minnesota primary poll

A new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Cook Political Report is out. And with it, we get a better sense of how Democratic-leaning voters in Minnesota are feeling.

  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren: 25%
  • Sen. Amy Klobuchar: 15%
  • Joe Biden: 14%
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders: 13%
  • Pete Buttigieg: 7%
  • Andrew Yang: 4%
  • No one else above 1%.

The last Minnesota primary poll, conducted by Change Research, had Warren at 21%, Biden at 20%, Sanders at 19% and Klobuchar at 16%. (The margin of error on the Kaiser poll is ± 2%. The margin of error on the Change poll is ± 2.5%.)

Omar-Sanders rally

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar held a rally at the University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena this week, following Omar’s endorsement of the senator’s presidential campaign.

“What we are building is a multi-racial, multi-generational, working-class movement,” Sanders said to the crowd. “We are tired of the exploitation of working people of this country.”

Omar praised Sanders: “I am beyond honored and excited for a president who will fight against western imperialism and fight for a just world.”

The Sanders campaign said it would cover all expenses related to the event, which is slated to cost a total of $40,275. This comes after President Trump’s campaign said they would not pay $530,000 for police time and traffic control after his rally in the city.

New Power Generation, Prince’s longtime band, endorsed Sanders and performed at the rally.

On Saturday, Sanders will be talking climate change in Iowa. And not by himself. He will be joined by people like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), co-author of the Green New Deal, and Isra Hirsi, the co-founder of Youth Climate Strike. Hirsi is also Omar’s daughter.

Sanders aims to focus the next 100 days of his campaign in Iowa on the impacts of climate change, and what he intends to do about it if elected President.

The president next door

Klobuchar has qualified for the sixth Democratic debate, having received four polls over 4 percent. Quinipiac’s latest Iowa poll placed her at 5 percent — still well behind Sanders’ 17 percent or Buttigieg’s 19 percent — but enough to qualify and stay afloat.

The debate was supposed to be hosted at the University of California, Los Angeles on Dec. 19th, but the event was pulled due to the three year labor dispute between The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the University of California.

And something else: In the Atlantic, a story about how Klobuchar would be poised to capture the moderate crowd, if not for Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

In other news

  • Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) on Wednesday announced her endorsement of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president.
  • The trash battle in St. Paul is over. Amid the excitement, the crowd chants “Trash, trash, trash.” In the end, the voters decided: they will keep the coordinated trash services offered by the city.
  • “Does the Minnesota Secretary of state get to decide what information about voters is public?” Read more at MinnPost.com

Quote of the week

“During a confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, Ms. Klobuchar asked Ms. Kagan whether she was on team Jacob or Edward, a reference to the ‘Twilight’ series that was popular with teenage girls at the time. Ms. Klobuchar was simply trying to lighten the mood, but Ms. Kagan looked at her blankly and replied ‘I wish you wouldn’t.’” — The New York Times on Klobuchar’s use of humor.

What I’m reading

The Washington Post Guild: A Study of Pay the Washington Post

The Washington Post’s union found that women as a group are paid less than men, and that, on average, women of color in the newsroom receive $30,000 less than white men. This is following a trend of pay studies at media organizations that are not sanctioned by the outlets, but by their unions. Interesting for many reasons, but worth asking: How can you expect coverage to be reflective of the country if you’re paying certain journalists less?

Karl Evers-Hillstrom for Open Secrets: Maxine Waters’ blue seat isn’t up for grabs. But the lucrative chance to challenge her is

Running as a Republican in a deeply blue district is unlikely to yield an electoral win. But if you can fundraise, it does lead to some nice dinners and hotel stays.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for sticking around. Until next week, feel free to send tips, suggestions, and sound advice to: gschneider@minnpost.com. Follow at @gabemschneider. And don’t forget to become a MinnPost member.

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