Super Tuesday's finally here, but it will go on without Minnesota's senior senator in contention. Remember, you can follow the local and national results this evening on MPR News stations and MPRNews.org. 1. Klobuchar makes Super Tuesday Eve exit. In Dallas Monday night, Minnesota U.S. Amy Klobuchar made it official — her presidential campaign is over and she is backing former Vice President Joe Biden. "Texans we need to unite our country,” Klobuchar said. “ I believe we can do this together and that is why today, I am ending my campaign and endorsing Joe Biden for president." It was likely not the way Klobuchar thought it would end when she launched her campaign more than a year ago on Boom Island in Minneapolis. Falling snow covered her hair and winter coat as she talked about uniting the country and addressing problems from income inequity to climate change and the high cost of health care. For more than a year, Klobuchar promoted herself as an effective senator who could win over Democrats and moderate Republicans in the battleground Midwest. She opposed abandoning private health insurance for a government-run “Medicare for All” plan. She opposed free four-year college for everyone. Yet, Klobuchar struggled to gain traction. MPR News
2. Sanders rallies Minnesota supporters, seeks Klobuchar’s. Sen. Bernie Sanders contrasted his record and campaign with former Vice President Joe Biden’s as he pitched himself as the best person to take on President Donald Trump at a St. Paul rally the night before Super Tuesday. “It is absolutely imperative that we defeat Trump, that we have a candidate’s agenda and record that can defeat Trump. And not only is our record different, the nature of our campaign is different,” Sanders said, describing strong grassroots support for his campaign while he said Biden is drawing money from billionaires and is “just wrong on the issues.” The Vermont senator urged supporters of Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who ended their campaigns over the past two days, to join his cause. He said they are united in shared values of economic, social, racial and environmental justice. “To all of Amy and Pete’s millions of supporters: The door is open, come on in,” he said. StarTribune
3. Yeah, about that early vote. Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer all dropped their bid for the Democratic nomination president within 72 hours of Super Tuesday, changing the calculus in 14 states, including Minnesota, right before people head out to vote. But tens of thousands of people already cast their ballots utilizing the state’s early voting system. That includes early votes for home state candidate Klobuchar, who pulled out of the race on the eve of the election and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. For those early voters, the deadline has passed to change their vote. It’s just one complication under the first presidential primary system in the state in nearly 30 years. StarTribune
4. Talk, but no action yet, on restricting party preference disclosure. There are at least nine bills before the 2020 Minnesota Legislature intent on limiting the disclosure of party preference data of voters who participate in the March 3 presidential nominating primary. None of those bills will pass into law in time for Tuesday’s voting. So those who cast ballots in the state’s new primary should expect that someone — the leaders of one or all of the state’s four major political parties — will know which party ballot they used. As of now, other than a ban on commercial use, there are no restrictions on what those party officials can do with the data. There are about 10 weeks between when the votes are cast and when county election officials produce voter lists, and a law change could happen during that period. But voters would have to have a lot of confidence in a group of lawmakers who seem divided on what to do, if anything. MinnPost
5. No cases, but ready for COVID-19. Minnesota government officials on Monday stressed that the state will be prepared for COVID-19, once cases of the new coronavirus start showing up here. Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm briefed Gov. Tim Walz and top legislative leaders on those preparations. So far, Minnesota has not had a confirmed case of the disease. But Malcolm told reporters after the briefing that Minnesota will likely see cases in the near future. “Our state public health laboratory worked all weekend and is ready to start testing now,” Malcolm said. “We have the capability to do testing for COVID-19 in Minnesota, which will be very helpful to our efforts to quickly detect and then quickly manage these infections, should they show up here.” MPR News
| 