is that your answer? yeah, and i m curious if you have. i have no drinking problem, judge. reporter: klobuchar later said she was stunned by the moment, which also let her discuss her own experience growing up with an alcoholic father. my dad, who s 90 now, struggled with it throughout his life, and finally got treatment and is sober. reporter: with her national profile elevated, klobuchar coasted to re-election in 2018 with 60% of the vote. winning 42 counties carried by donald trump in 2016. you go where it is uncomfortable, not just where it s comfortable. and that s how we re going to win the midwest. reporter: a graduate of yale university, klobuchar interned for fellow minnesotan walter mondale in his senate office. i thank vice president mondale, who s here with us, who s been a mentor to me. reporter: klobuchar says mondale s choice of running mate in 1984, the first woman on a major party ticket, opened her
i am running for every american. i am running for you. and i promise you this. as your president,ly look you in the eye. i will tell you what i think. i will focus on getting things done. that s what i ve done my whole life. and no matter what, i ll lead from the heart. cnn s suzanne malveaux joins us live in minneapolis. suzanne, it looks freezing there. you guys are all troopers standing out there in that snow. i kept watching it pile up on klobuchar s head. good turnout there despite the very minnesota conditions. what does klobuchar say she will bring to this race? reporter: it s quite amazing when you think about that. you see that snow cap on her head there. yeah, she stood out there, no gloves, no hat to deliver this address. it s a balmy 17 degrees, but despite that, hundreds of people
sturdy bridge to higher ground. reporter: the 58-year-old third-term senator talked up her heartland heritage and her ability to get things done. i will look you in the eye. i will tell you what i think. and no matter what, i ll lead from the heart. reporter: klobuchar joins an increasingly crowded democratic field, including fellow senate judiciary committee members cory booker and kamala harris. it is from that committee perch last fall that klobuchar captured the national spotlight with her questioning of then-supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. so you re saying there s never been a case where you drank so much that you didn t remember what happened the night before or part of what happened? you re asking about yeah, blackout, i don t know. have you? reporter: the exchange for which kavanaugh later apologized went viral. could you answer the question, judge? to you, that s not happened?
first couple days of the campaign are an opportunity to get on the offensive. i think for the president, this ever-growing number of candidates, he s trying to test each and every one of them. he took a less enthusiastic jab at klobuchar only a few minutes ago in a climate change construct i m sure we ll talk about. if elizabeth warren is of the fight fire with fire mind set, senator cory booker is taking a decidedly different approach than her. let s listen to what he told cnn. i m not here to try to emulate the tactics of a president. i m not trying to match him ugly comment for ugly comment, bashing for bashing. i m focusing on the people. elena, can we expect this high-road approach to last when booker could end up facing more than a dozen challengers? you know, what booker is doing well, i think, ana, and same with senator klobuchar, is trying to emulate the kind of person who they think may be
disenchanted white suburban voters would be will be to vote for in a general election. as we saw in many senate races this past november, there is a healthy number of republicans who are willing to look outside of a donald trump endorsed candidate or trump himself when it comes to who they want to lead this country in 2020. so while elizabeth warren s fight fire with fire tactics as you aptly put it could play well to a very progressive base that is agitating for quite left-wing proposals such as, for instance, the green new deal, it remains hard to believe that that s the sort of message that would resonate with a wide variety of voters in states like michigan, in states like wisconsin and minnesota come 2020. so even if booker and klobuchar and others like them seem like the quieter voices as this primary kicks off, they could be the ones who are more able to prevail in the end because of that disposition. klobuchar being from the