It was time.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, appearing on the WCCO Morning News with Dave Lee, said she knew there wasn't a path to win the Democratic presidential nomination despite confidence that she'd win Tuesday's Minnesota primary election.
"I thought, what am I doing here," she said. "Is it for me, or for our country?"
Klobuchar announced her decision on Monday, and immediately flew to Texas to give her personal endorsement to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Hamline University Professor of Political Science David Schultz has his own takeaway.
“I don't think either for her presidential campaign, or more importantly for her political future in Minnesota, she could withstand if she had actually lost the state of Minnesota. And so I think this is a good way for her to be able to prevent that type of damage from occurring,” Schultz told 830 WCCO anchor Laura Oakes.
Polls showed a tight race between Klobuchar and Sanders in Minnesota, and Schultz added that Klobuchar’s internal polling may have given her additional reason to worry. “Now she can of course say that the only reason why she lost was the fact that she had dropped out of the race, so she has a face-saving opportunity for herself here,” he said.
Her move followed an announcement from former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg to end his campaign on Saturday, following Biden’s bigger than expected win in South Carolina. Schultz noted that by ending her bid, Klobuchar cleared the way for centrist Democrats to rally behind Biden. “She can join a Buttigieg in terms of coming to support the more moderate alternative to Bernie Sanders,” he said.
As for possible VP consideration, her immediate endorsement of Biden can only help, and he may also consider her for a cabinet position if he wins, Schultz said.
Still, he imagines the decision was a tough call to make.
“She's devoted essentially the last year of her life to running for President of the United States and to be faced with the reality that you're going to have to leave the race — you're not resonating with the American public for a variety of reasons - it's really tough to do.”