Full Klobuchar: Bloomberg 'Just Can’t Hide Behind The Airwaves' | Meet The Press | NBC News

welcome back if there was one constant in senator amy

klobuchar

's campaign it's that she had very strong debate performances that didn't translate into strong poll numbers all that changed in new hampshire when her powerful debate on friday night generated big crowds that weekend and a growing third-place finished well ahead of Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden is asking now if he has an encore and Amy Klobuchar is joining me now from Las Vegas Senator Clovis sure welcome back to Meet the Press well thanks Chuck I can't think of a better place Devin encore than last night there you go there we go yeah there you go a funny funny way to joke around that but let me talk about that you know one of the hallmarks of your New Hampshire campaign is that you essentially outperformed everyone, I think by our count, you ended up doing more events in New Hampshire than any of the other major candidates that did that translated to something there at the end of that campaign now all of a sudden you're going from a one state campaign As for these things that are about to escalate rapidly can you put together a campaign to become a major candidate ?

I'm Chuck and we're really encouraged, but what we've seen here in Nevada I got the endorsement. from the Las Vegas Sun and a recent poll in the Review Journal gave me double-digit numbers, so that's a big change for us. What's happened since that debate in a little over a week is we've raised over $12 million online, mostly from

just

regular people new people who gave that's the first time in a campaign like this that it's seen an increase in people who

just

watch a debate and decide they know what I like this person and I think she's going to support me and I think she can carry this ticket to victory which is the number one concern of Democrats so we're running multiple events here, we had over a thousand people in Reno just a day or two ago in Las Vegas now and we're taking this message across the state 12 million dollars in a week is unbelievable You're facing three hundred million dollars from Michael Bloomberg and I say this because you are fighting for the same part of the party.

I mean it has to be overwhelming. For one, you have some money. you can start building a national campaign but you're facing this attack yeah I mean honestly is it daunting yeah because I do things like go on your show answer tough questions and then at the same time you're posting more ads about what you want during at the same time that's life and I think what needs to happen here is you need to go to shows like this that you haven't done you just can't

hide

behind Airways you have to answer questions and of course Sure, I think he should be on that debate stage that he will eventually be because I can't beat him on the

airwaves

, but I can beat him on the debate stage and I think the people of America deserve that to make a decision that you know when you watch the poll. out of New Hampshire who saw that the guy or If none in the Sanders wing of the party, whatever you want to call it, pragmatist, centrist, whatever, whatever title you want to give it, is bigger than what S had anders, but at the end of the day, you guys aren't pragmatic enough.

I'll show you something political Road the pragmatic compromise Democratic moderates apparently can't pragmatically agree to compromise with a preferred presidential candidate, instead they have handed their ideological nemesis within the party, Sanders, bragging rights in the first two races, even when he hasn't touched 30% of the vote on either one, if you don't rally around someone, he could be the top delegate after Super Tuesday and suddenly there aren't enough delegates left to stop him. I don't see it that way at all. primaries and we're not going to go back in the back room with three or four people and just say, okay, you got it, I didn't, we're running and the voters of this country can make that decision and eventually people will drop out of this race, but right now this is a competition and that's how it should be.

I also think people understand that what unites us is greater than what divides us. the ticket I was the only one who raised my hand even though I get along with Bernie we got to the Senate together we worked together on pharmaceutical pricing my argument is that even if I don't have Michael Bloomberg's money, I'll get people's money through As this progresses as I emerge as a stronger candidate, we are now going to have teams in every Super Tuesday state. I am beginning to travel to these states and we are going to do events, let me and almost everyone. of them answer this at some point you're going to win you have to win somewhere and it can't be just in minnesota we know it's going to be a shot for you where you're going to win by super tuesday there's so many states out there i'm not going to list everything for you, but it's all you can go across the country.

I don't know what state I'll win in, but I'll do better than anyone imagined. They are states like Colorado and Utah. They are states like North Carolina. on Super Tuesday are states like Virginia. I can walk the map with you, but at this point who knows who will win because so many of us are lumped together in the polls. I don't have the biggest name ID or the biggest bank account. but I have the ability to take people with me and that's what you're slowly but surely seeing in every state and by the way when the mayor, mayor

bloomberg

and the president, they clashed on twitter when the president claimed that the mayor was five feet tall and the mayor said no, he's taller.

I'm the only one claiming to be five feet tall in this contest. imagine supporting him as the n democrat omine someone who has been a democrat I think that only for a couple of years I have been very clear that I am going to support whoever comes out of that convention who is our democratic candidate if he is the one who comes out of that convention I would support him I still don't think he is the best candidate for our country. I don't think people look at the guy in the white house and say oh let's make somebody richer.

I think my record where Donald Trump got $413 million from his father. over the course of his career and my grandfather saved money in a can of coffee in the basement to send my dad to community college since he worked in the mines all his life 413 million dollars can't fit in a can of coffee in the basement Basement I would also add that the Midwest is not flyover country for me I live there and the people who live there don't have poker chips in a bankrupt casino as I am in Vegas President Trump to me they are my friends and neighbors that is the area of ​​the country we need to win a and that is also a strong case that I am going to have against Michael Bloomberg if you are the Democratic nominee will you feel comfortable accepting financial aid in different ways and and from Michael Bloomberg?

Do you know that there are many progressive and democratic groups? that they've received a lot of money from him over the years is what's the price of that money in your mind right now I'm just focused on our own campaign and that's based and fed so much on those small contributions that Amy Klobuchar calm , that allowed me to compete with a minimal amount of money to be able to compete in Airways with Mayor Bloomberg and others, for me that's what I'm focused on. I think in the future, of course, when we have a candidate, there will be enough money because of the incredible interest of the people in this country that not only ignited the Democrats but also the independents and the moderate Republicans like the ones I brought into New Hampshire as the ones I'm going to bring in Nevada, they also want to see a change in the white house and they don't agree with everything that is said in that debate scenario, but they agree with me when it comes to a decency check and a patriotism check, although you may not agree with everything that is said in that debate scenario, yes I am very excited about the coalition that I can build to defeat the president given some of the things that Michael Bloomberg has said, because Whether it's about the women in the workplace that he's been accused of saying or about policing African Americans and highlighting things like that if he's the Democratic nominee, does he make the job of going after and Is President Trump's character more difficult again? times and several other candidates have come and answered tough questions you have to do the same thing he hasn't done on Sunday since he announced instead he is just running ads and I don't think you should.

It could

hide

behind the ad. I think you should not only go to these programs. I also think he should come up on the debate stage. So I've actually supported him on that debate stage because I know I can't beat him. on the

airwaves

but i can beat him in debates lemme ask you this he's being scrutinized for his record and criminal justice issues and now so are you and i'm curious about this as far as your record there's been a lot of people . I have done further analysis of his record over the years as a prosecutor.

Have you read these in these? Look back and if you have, you have flinched. You look back on your career and you think there are some things, but if I knew that if I had known then what I know now, maybe I would be a different prosecutor, maybe I wouldn't have always placed such trust in law enforcement and what what they say on the witness stand compared to what others say. Have you all recognized him? maybe your record deserves a different dip k well of course what we know now was not the same as what we knew then and i have always been a proponent of criminal justice reform which was a tough job i oversaw 10 to 15 thousand cases every year and we did a lot of good work and I was proud of our office but we know there is systemic racism in the criminal justice system and the answer is of course something that I worked on when I had that job before I was in the Senate is diversifying the office is doing things like videotaping interrogations, which I advocated for and we had in Minnesota, is doing eyewitness identification in a different way that limits racial misidentifications, is what we're doing now in the Senate , where I have been a co-sponsor of the First Step Act. to reduce non-violent sentencing and as president we are either good or bad I think having someone actually lead these issues will be a good thing because I will be able to get that clemency board going and move on to the second step act because I have a deep understanding of the pros and cons of the criminal justice system Senator Amy Klobuchar Democrat of Minnesota Thanks for getting up extraordinarily early today and sharing your views Thanks for everything Jett Thanks Chuck