MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

Interviewer: Rachel Maddow

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), SENIOR SENATOR: Well, it is great to be on again, Rachel. Thank you.

MADDOW: So I‘m measuring the excitement in the Senate by virtue of how long the uninterrupted applause went on. Was it that exciting? Were people as psyched as it seemed?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, the gallery was filled with Al‘s friends and his family and just people who have been waiting for this to happen for so long. As you know, the trial lasted longer than the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping trial. It went on for something like - who‘s counting - but 246 days since the day of the election.

So there was just a lot of good feeling for him and just a lot of joy in that room, and always, when a new senator comes in, there‘s a lot of dignity and civility in the Senate. So it was a good day.

MADDOW: Before we get to the big picture, political implications of him coming into the Senate, let me ask you personally and as an individual senator, how soon does your job get easier, since you have been handling the burden of all of the Senate representation from Minnesota?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, our staff, as you know I have said many times, I‘m so proud of them. I think they will continue to do double the work for a bit because we‘re not giving our cases over to him as his office is brand new. But gradually, obviously, constituents will call his office as well as ours.

For me, I‘m pleased it‘s over. I went six months, RACHEL, as the only senator without deciding to resign in front of a lake or disappear in Argentina. So it‘s a kind of a personal achievement for me.

MADDOW: But now that he‘s there, you are now going to collapse and put on waders and quit, right?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes, I think something like that. No, there‘s a lot of work to be done, as you pointed out.

MADDOW: Well, are there specific things that you think can be done now, now that Sen. Franken has been sworn in, now that there are 60 Democrats in the Senate that maybe couldn‘t have been done before?

Everybody is saying number 60 isn‘t the magic number. But do you think it actually does change the calculus of what might be able to get done?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, it‘s not a magic number because as you‘ve heard from many analysts and pundits, we have two people who are sick that haven‘t been in the Senate. Usually, our major legislation does come with Republican support. It might be three, like the stimulus package. It might be 30, like some of the other bills.

But it is always helpful when you are trying to push some difficult legislation to have an extra vote. You look at the Sotomayor nomination. I personally am not going to put words in my colleagues‘ mouths on the other side of the aisle.

I‘m sure - I would think she will get some Republican support, so it wouldn‘t matter. But a nomination like that, if it becomes highly charged and it‘s important for, say, a president to get someone in, it‘s always helpful to have those 60 votes as we head to these major issues that we‘re dealing with of energy and health care reform.

I was just up in Northern Minnesota, visiting some small businesses there. Some people were spending $20,000 for a family of four, an owner of a small backpack company up there that has just, you know, flourished in this little down.

And it‘s getting so expensive, he said he wouldn‘t have started the business years ago if he would have known how much the health care costs were eating into their bottom line. And you hear that all the time. So we have to get this done.

I‘m hopeful we‘ll do it and I still think that we could easily do it with some bipartisan support. It is a major undertaking - 17 percent of our economy. Other efforts in the past have failed, but we‘ve gotten to the point now and you look at the wasted costs and what‘s happening.

I know this from Minnesota, where we have an excellent model for how you can save money in health care. We just have to move forward with this.

MADDOW: I know that one of the real important political calculations on health care and some of these other major issues is what conservative Democrats are going to do. Al Franken is widely perceived to be a big-time liberal because of his association with Air America, which I‘m associated with and some of the other things in his past.

I personally don‘t see him as a particularly liberal guy. Do you know where we should expect him to be on the conservative-liberal spectrum?

KLOBUCHAR: You know, I can‘t predict that. I just know that I think some of the national media were thinking he would be just some laugh riot from the day he started. And I think they were somewhat stunned about how serious he was about the issues. People in Minnesota - we‘re used to that. He‘s been debating and talking about issues for quite a while. So I just know that he‘s buckling down and getting to work.

He also understands in the health care area, for instance, how important it is for Minnesota to make sure that whatever plan comes out, that it really looks at the cost savings that we get in our state, where it‘s a high-quality, low-cost state. And we want to make sure that there are incentives in place so the rest of the country does that as well.

MADDOW: One last thing - I don‘t usually do this but I have to do this because I‘m back from vacation and I‘ve got you.

KLOBUCHAR: I can‘t wait to see.

MADDOW: You know what it is. You made these two predictions during appearances on this show, and I have to ask you for a new one given how right you‘ve been. Check this out.

KLOBUCHAR: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KLOBUCHAR: My prediction, Rachel, is that we will have a new senator

by the time the ice melts on Lake Minnetonka -

MADDOW: Which usually -

(CROSS TALK)

KLOBUCHAR: April 11th.

MADDOW: April 11th?

KLOBUCHAR: April 11th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KLOBUCHAR: I keep giving you predictions.

MADDOW: Yes.

KLOBUCHAR: Remember I said it would be done when the ice melted.

Now, this is my last kitschy prediction.

MADDOW: OK.

KLOBUCHAR: When the corn is knee-high on the Fourth of July. And if it‘s not done by then - yes, then I‘m going to be mad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: See, I gave you credit for the first prediction because on April 13th, the three-judge panel declared that Al won the election. Then, of course, Norm appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court. And then you made the second prediction, which held up really even better. Now, I have to ask you to make another prediction.

(CROSS TALK)

KLOBUCHAR: Go ahead. Ask me the question.

MADDOW: How long do you think it will be before senator Al Franken agrees to appear as my guest on this show?

KLOBUCHAR: Whoa, he has really focused on local media. So I would guess - I would predict within a year. And what did I say last time? And if I‘m not right about that, I will just be mad, right?

MADDOW: That‘s fair enough.

KLOBUCHAR: But we‘ll see.

MADDOW: At least you didn‘t say until hell freezes over, which is what I was expecting.

KLOBUCHAR: Maybe. Anyway -

MADDOW: All right. Any time between then.

KLOBUCHAR: OK.

MADDOW: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota. Thank so much for coming on the show tonight. And congratulations for you in Minnesota.

KLOBUCHAR: Well, it was great to be on. Thank you, Rachel.

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