Klobuchar Chronicle: The Momentum Month

Four days of rain are behind us and the grass is green, the tulips are out and I think we're all ready for a spring cleaning in Washington, D.C. Without question, April was a month of growing momentum for our campaign.

Our "Rally for Change" with Illinois Senator Barack Obama was a lot of fun with nearly 2,000 people attending. St. Louis Park Junior High will never be the same. Senator Obama is as generous with his time and good will in person as he is in front of a crowd. Before the rally he had a chat with our family. He told my ten-year-old daughter that she was quite gregarious and asked her if she ever thought of running for office. She looked up at him and said, "Well, people frequently ask me that, but I have to tell you Senator, I've already done it. I got elected to the middle school student council." He told her he didn't want her to move to Illinois because he wanted to keep his seat.

But more on the April momentum: this month we earned many endorsements including the AFL-CIO, Senator Mark Dayton, and many local and state elected officials, including Senator Keith Langseth from northwestern Minnesota. Thanks to your help, we announced a great first quarter fundraising total, raising $1.2 million in the first three months of the year. And you can take full credit -- more than 1/4 of my Republican opponent's money comes from special interest PAC's, while 95% of our money comes from individuals just like you.

Our new headquarters on University Avenue is hopping and while we attend all sorts of Democratic conventions and gatherings, we continue to run an aggressive general election campaign. A few weeks ago we had a great presence at the Ducks, Wetlands and Clean Water Rally at the State Capitol. It was a great event where sportsmen and environmentalists come together to make the case for conservation. I was pleased to receive an honorary duck band to take with me to Washington and next year I hope to be there judging the duck calling contest. Check out the pictures from the event in the "Amy Across Minnesota" section of our website.

And while the polls in this race have been excellent from day one (the latest Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll shows us 8 points up), the real polls are the ones I'm taking at the gas stations across the state where people tell me they are ready to take this country in a new direction towards energy independence. People know we need change in Washington when the retiring CEO of Exxon made $400 million last year, while the price at the pumps is heading up to $3 per gallon. As one customer told me at a station in Mankato last Saturday morning, "I can only get a half-tank now. It costs over $40 to fill up my truck. There must be a better way."

For years people in Washington have been talking about doing something about energy. But while talk is cheap, the price of gas isn't. Many months ago I proposed some short-term and long-term solutions for this crisis: a 20% renewable standard for fuel and electricity, improvements in fuel economy standards, incentives for more hybrid vehicles, leading by example by replacing the federal fleet of cars through attrition, a gas gouging penalty, requiring oil companies to invest in renewable energy research, and a "Manhattan Project" scale effort for energy self-sufficiency.

As the New York Times noted in a front page article last month, energy independence has been a central part of my campaign to put the people in front of the big oil companies. Now I want to go to Washington to do something about it.

We have always believed in science and technology in our state, in new frontiers. Minnesota brought the world everything from post-it notes to pacemakers...and we can now lead our country to a new frontier of energy independence. Through ethanol, biodiesel, wind and solar, through research at our top-notch university and colleges, we can lead. With an optimistic attitude that we can change the course of history, reduce global warming, and bring jobs to Minnesota by investing in the farmers and workers of the Midwest instead of the oil cartels of the Middle East, we can lead. But real leadership means sending people to Washington who will pass laws with teeth and stop coddling the oil companies with special tax breaks and gifts.

Please continue to join us on our journey to bring change to Washington. Help us to make the case for change and a progressive agenda of energy independence, affordable health care, and real international security, including a significant change of course in Iraq.

Here are some ways you can help:

(1) Contribute early and often. We know if we get our message out to the voters, we'll win this November.

(2) Volunteer today. As the weather gets nicer, we'll need more people to join our effort to build the best ground game Minnesota has ever seen.

(3) Please forward this message to everyone you know. It's critical we continue to build our grassroots team to fight back against the special interests who support my opponent.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
Amy Klobuchar