Amy Klobuchar
The author and central figure in the book is Amy Klobuchar, United States Senator from Minnesota. Klobuchar launched a campaign for the Democratic nomination for President during the 2020 Presidential election cycle. She would eventually suspend her campaign just one day before Super Tuesday.
Kirby Puckett
For around half the year, it’s too cold to do a whole in Minnesota that the rest of the country of is doing. As a result, even though their professional sports teams off the ice rarely compete for championships, the residents tend to really embrace their athletes to their collective bosom. Such was the case Minnesota Twins baseball star, Kirby Puckett. Puckett was a nationally-beloved figure until he was accused of sexual assault and at the time Klobuchar was the county attorney charged with making the decision on whether to take the charges to trial.
Al Franken
As with every other state, regardless of geographical size or population density, Minnesota has two U.S. Senators (crazy way to run a country, huh?) The other Senator for much of the time covered in the book was former Saturday Night Live writer and performer Al Franken. Franken’s time spent as Klobuchar’s fellow Senator was one marked by an unusually persistent height of drama: the recount which eventually landed Franken in the exclusive club was one of the closest and most unnecessarily drawn-out in American history. He would later, of course, be pressured into resigning over accusations of behavior barely qualifying as examples of sexual misconduct in comparison to what then-President of the United States Donald Trump had admitted on tape just a few weeks before many of those demanding Franken's resignation voted for him.
Walter Mondale
Before Al Franken came along, the most famous politician to come out of Minnesota was Walter Mondale. ((It is worth noting that Franken was already famous as a comedian and writer before becoming a politician.) Mondale became Vice-President of the United States when he was picked to become Jimmy Carter’s running mate in his bid to unseat Gerald Ford from office in 1976. Following that team’s loss to Ronald Reagan in 1980, Mondale would make history in his bid for the top job in 1984. First, his loss to Reagan remains one of the standards by which landslides are judged, but of more lasting impact on history was Mondale’s courageous decision to pick Geraldine Ferraro as the first candidate for Vice-President on a major party ticket in American history. Klobuchar’s connection is personal, however: she worked as intern for Mondale while he was Vice-President.
