MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

MS. MADDOW: Joining us now is Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. She is an Obama supporter. She's been traveling around to some of the key battleground states in support of Senator Obama.

Senator Klobuchar, Happy Halloween. Thanks for coming back on the show.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Well, thank you, Rachel. With our orange and black, we're almost a Halloween duo.

MS. MADDOW: That's actually a very good idea. Some people say --

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: There you go.

MS. MADDOW: Some people say I look kind of jack-o-lanterny even on the best days, so I know what you're thinking here.

The McCain campaign is making the case that higher turnout in this election will favor McCain. I am guessing that is not the way you see it. But what do you make of that assessment from them?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Well, you know, it's like they haven't gotten the memo. Everyone in the country knows that Barack Obama has turned out hundreds of thousands of new people. And you can see it in the voter registration. You can see it in the numbers in these early voting. And I believe this massive turnout is going to favor Barack Obama.

And so I'm not quite sure where they're going with this. I'm sure they're desperate to spin different things right now. But what I've seen in these key states -- Louisiana, where we are seeing just record turnouts in New Orleans; when you go to Oregon, where an unbelievable number of people that are casting their early mail-in ballots; you go to New Hampshire, Colorado -- just a lot of excitement out there. So I don't quite know what they're talking about.

But in your football analogy, which was very complicated and interesting, Barack's on the offense and they're on the defense. And I would say this, Rachel. I'd say that they have been out of bounds and off-line so many times that the American people have basically tossed in a number of penalty flags, big yellow flags, since June. And they keep getting put back and back and back, losing their 10- yard, 15-yard penalties. And they're way back in defense at this point.

And those penalty flags are all about the way they've been campaigning, with the hate calls, with the negative connections. And people just don't like that. They want to talk about the economy and health care and energy and how they move this country forward. They like what Barack's been doing and his clear steady hand as the quarterback.

MS. MADDOW: You know, the more complicated this football analogy gets, the better it gets. (Laughs.) I'm enjoying it more and more.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: I know. I just thought -- should I go into the Hail Mary passes that they've been tossing?

MS. MADDOW: Yes. (Laughs.)

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: You see --

MS. MADDOW: Yeah, go for it.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: -- I grew up covering -- my dad covered the Vikings, so you just can't match me on football metaphors.

MS. MADDOW: (Laughs.)

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: But anyway, it's so obvious that we have this change where you have Barack going into these red states, like Arizona and North Dakota, things that he really has wanted to do from the beginning, when he said there's no such thing as a red state or a blue state. And I think this isn't just about winning the election. This is about having a president that's going to come into the White House with the respect of people throughout this country.

He may not get the majority in every single red state, but he's going to get a significant amount of the vote. And to really move ahead in this country with the challenges that we have, I think he needs that kind of mandate. So I'm really excited that at this point in this campaign he's willing and able to go to places like Georgia and Arizona, because we're going to need the people of those states behind us when we tackle health care and when we tackle the economy.

MS. MADDOW: Senator Klobuchar, what do you make of Republicans using and the McCain campaign specifically using Barack Obama and using Hillary Clinton in their ads now, using them not just to attack them but using them in a positive way?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Well, and it's certainly a switch, and very confusing for people who have been following all these debates, where they've been hitting on Barack and calling him names and every name you can think of. It makes no sense, except I'll say one thing. The fact that Barack has been positive about John McCain's work on climate change is just another sign of what a strong leader he is.

You saw it in those debates. He was willing to acknowledge when he agreed with John McCain, when he thought John McCain was right, and he appreciates the work he's done on climate change. Now, I will say, with the Republicans in charge of the White House and in charge of Congress for six of the last eight years, we haven't been really able to move on climate change. But with a new president and a new Senate and a new House, I think we'll be able to do that.

MS. MADDOW: We're seeing some new polling about the race possibly closing in John McCain's favor in Ohio and in Florida, seeing him getting closer to Barack Obama in those states, where the lead was already very narrow to begin with. Are you expecting to see any new tactics, any sort of new message, any new special effort to try to hold on to those big and very important states?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: You know, I think that we're going to keep with the same strategy from the beginning, which is really going all over the country. You see Joe Biden everywhere. You see Barack everywhere. And I know your polling doohickey had some interesting facts there. But the bottom line, you see in Pennsylvania Barack is still up by nine points.

I talked to Senator Casey just about an hour ago. He was saying that in Pennsylvania a Democrat hasn't gotten 52 percent of the vote since LBJ. So you have to look at it in that historical context in some of these more difficult states like Pennsylvania and Ohio and Florida, where I believe we'll do well, and in the end we'll win.

MS. MADDOW: Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, thank you for being with us tonight. I really appreciate it.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Well, thank you, Rachel. And thank you for taking me away from the eighth grade Halloween party for 10 minutes.

MS. MADDOW: (Laughs.)

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Now I get to go back and judge the best costume. It's between the Austrian milk maid and the disco queen.

MS. MADDOW: How are you going to --

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: So I'll be thinking of you.

MS. MADDOW: How are you going to be choosing between them?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: It's very difficult.

MS. MADDOW: Isn't that like a no-win situation?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Well, no, it's my daughter and her friends. And there's all kinds of categories. You know, you have best costume, most creative. Everyone gets a prize.

MS. MADDOW: Very, very, very smart. (Laughs.) Thanks. I appreciate it.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Okay, thank you.

Source