From impeachment to Iowa: Inside Klobuchar’s cross-country campaign

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, along with three of her colleagues, is trying to do something no one in history has tried: running for president in the final days before voting begins in the Democratic primary, and serving as a juror in President Trump’s impeachment trial at the same time.

On a recent day in Washington, Klobuchar, running on 3½ hours of sleep, spent the morning doing a battery of remote television interviews with stations in Iowa and New Hampshire. In the evening, after the Senate adjourned for the day, the senator from Minnesota did a telephone town hall with Iowans.

Klobuchar tried to maximize her time in Iowa last weekend. With the Senate in a 48-hour break, she flew straight to the state from Washington and held a series of events she hope will help her break through there. On Monday, she was back in the Capitol.

But any momentum has been threatened by the demands of being present for the impeachment trial in Washington at the same time that Iowa’s legions of undecided voters are coming to a judgment. Unlike her better-financed rivals, who have raised tens of millions of dollars to organize in states farther down the campaign calendar, Klobuchar’s future is almost wholly dependent on how she does in Iowa.

Klobuchar has a lot riding on Iowa, where she has been playing up her Midwestern roots. A top-tier finish could catapult her campaign heading into the next contest in New Hampshire. But a poor showing could end it.