Talk about. It is a mix. Liberals go there. I promise. Conservatives go there. And it is a way for people just to tell their stories about their lives like some of the stories we told here today. And to be able to have some Common Ground without people pointing fingers and getting out there. Faith is very important to me. It helped me get through my dads addiction. Its helped me to work with members actually in the senate on things like foreign aid. Things that i may not agree with some of these members on other things but we have that in common. And i think it is guides my life. I do think everyone should be able to practice what religion they want in this country. Thats the United States of america. Or not practice religion. But for me it is an important part of my life. Thank you. [ applause ] that gentleman is jeremy nadelka from portsmouth. Hes a content director at a publishing company. Sxl thanks, don. Thank you, senator, for being in New Hampshire today. Thanks for swearing that sweater. It makes me feel at home. Thank you. Democrats dont often talk about cutting spending, but our trilliondollar deficits are unsustainable and the progressive tax plans that have been proposed have little chance of passing a divided congress. What would a budget proposed by president klobuchar look like and specifically would you be willing to make tough choices by reducing spending on defense or entitlement programs . Well, thanks very much, jeremy. And i have long been focused on this debt, and im very dismayed by what this administration has done because were basically going to be passing this debt on to others. I dont think this is the time to make some kind of wholesale changes to Social Security or medicare. I think we should be protecting those programs. [ applause ] i do think that there are you asked that first. I want to lead with that. I do think there are things we can do to make medicare more effective. I also think theres things we can do to encourage Quality Health care, something of a always believed in, i know New Hampshire has. Ive been to dartmouth with senator shaheen and know the work thats going on there at the medical studies and at the medical school. But i also think on the Social Security front you could lift the cap and basically put a donut hole in there. And that would help to pay for Social Security. But lets talk about some other things. That republican tax bill. I favored reducing the Corporate Tax some. But it went so low that once it went under 25 every point was 100 billion. You think what that could pay for for Rural Broadband all over this country, which i pledge to do by 2022. Right . You think about what that could do with the debt. And then theres other things i think we should do when it comes to tax reform. Close the carried interest loophole. Right . Bring the Capital Gains rate to the rate that we see for personal tax rates. Do something the Warren Buffett that saves up to 100 billion now. Where he actually pays a rate that is lower than his secretarys. And then one thing i would add to the mix because theres so many things we could do. But one thing alone, comprehensive immigration reform, the bill we had back in 2013 supported by none other than grover norquist. Why . Because it brought the debt down 158 billion. Okay . That is how much it would save. So there are many things we could do that would get us on the right path with regard to our debt. But we shouldnt be doing it on the backs of the people that can least afford it in america including the middle class. [ applause ] so senator, olivia is already the president of College Democrats and she has a question. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for being here, senator. My question is with School Shootings on the rise and last week being the anniversary of the shooting in parkland what is your plan to keep College Students like myself safe on campuses across the country and how is that plan different from the other Democratic Candidates . Thank you so much. And i think we all just were horrified by what just happened in aurora. That shooting. Five innocent people at their workplace. Officers getting shot, putting themselves in the line of fire. And once again, when i saw that i thought to myself, how can this keep happening in america . Like New Hampshire, minnesota is a state that values the outdoors. We value hunting and fishing. And so i come at it from a little different place than some of my colleagues running for this office in that i always look at every proposal and say would this hurt my uncle dick in the deer stand . And i would say that these common sense proposals in front of us do not. I dont see banning assault weapons, right . I dont think that hurts in the deer stand. I dont think background checks, common sense background checks and let me explain here my experience with the president on this. Because i am the lead on a bill involving Domestic Violence and stalking, i was invited to the white house for the meeting he had on guns right after parkland. Remember that . And i sat right across from him. You can see the video. And i counted nine times he said he wanted to see universal background checks, to close that gun show loophole. Nine times. And then the next day he met with the nra and he changed his tune. This shouldnt be happening in our country. I had those families of i had those families from sandy hook in my office the day that we had to tell them that we couldnt pass that bill, that two arated nra legislator senators, manchin and toomey put together. And i remember one of the moms telling meu know what . We know this wouldnt have saved our babies, but it would have reduced domestic hom sxooids would have reduced suicides and thats why were here. And she told me the story of her son whos autistic whatsoever day would point to the picture of his teacher, his school aide, and then he would go to school because he had trouble talking. And as she said in the fire station, and one by one those kids came in, she knew she was never going to see her little boy again. And as she sat there sobbing she thought of everything about him but she also thought of that school aide because she knew that she would never leave his side. And when they found them shot multiple times dead, that teacher had her arms around that little boy. Those parents had the courage to come to washington to advocate for something that wouldnt save their babies. We should join the majority of americans and actually many gun owners in having the courage to pass common sense gun safety legislation. [ cheers and applause ] i want to bring in now Mohammed Saleh whos an engineer from keen. Go ahead. Your first name. Muhammad. Good to see you. Thank you, senator. There is a conservative argument for personal responsibility that is often taken too far and ignores the randomness of life and misfortune. Do you agree with the progressive view that a justice and Equitable Society must be built with empathy for the unfortunate . Senator, can you share a personal realization from your own journey in life where things fell apart and you realized the value of collective empathy . What a great question. Thank you. Well, for me, my daughter is here. Shes 23. Shes somewhere. There she is. And when she was born, she couldnt swallow. She was very sick. We had no idea it was going to happen. And back then the Insurance Companies had a rule in place you get kicked off the insurance in 24 hours. And there she was anyone tensive care. Id been up all night. And they kicked me out of the hospital. And i didnt even know what was going on. So i went to the legislator and worked with i was just a mom, basically. I was not in elected office. And she got better over time. It took years. But i went to the legislature and advocated for one of the first laws in the country guaranteeing new moms and their babies a 48hour hospital stay. And we passed that law. [ applause ] so for me working across the aisle on that and seeing the power of what you could get done and the power of bringing my pregnant friends to the Conference Committee so they outnumbered the insurance lobbyists 2 to 1 and so when the legislators asked when should this bill take effect they all raised thfr hands and said now and it happened. That was when i got hooked on public service. Because i could see that you could make a difference. And that is one example in my life, but i think you know there are these examples in peoples lives all the time where theyre able to get a loan that allows them to go to school, theyre able to get a grant that allows them to go to a great school like this. They are able to have something give them a helping happened like my grandpa, who worked 1,500 feet underground in the mines his whole life, saved money in a coffee can, to send my dad to college and any dad got that opportunity and then went from that hardscrabble mining town to become a journalist. And i stand here today as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, as the daughter of a teacher and a newspaper man, and as the first woman elected to the United States senate from the state of minnesota and a candidate for president of the United States because of that opportunity that is america. [ applause ] dont sit down, senator. Thank you. Thank you. This whole week youve been living in my head because ive been rereading your book. And the stories you that told tonight were heartfelt and your book is amazing. Its called the senator next door. It starts out about you talking about how people say did i go to school with you . Are you my neighbor . They all think they know me. Yes. And your daughter. And how in large part that pushed you into public service. So thank you for your time. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Did you guys enjoy it . [ cheers and applause ] thank you, New Hampshire. Amy klobuchar. Our thanks as well to saint ansel college. And to our audience and my friend dana bash is back in new york, and shes going to pick up the coverage right now with cnn tonight. Good night, everyone. All right. [ applause ] this is cnn tonight. Im dana bash. Don lemon is going to join us in just a moment. You heard from democratic president ial candidate Amy Klobuchar in cnns town hall. The senior senator from minnesota, the first female senator from the state, answering questions from the audience for well over an hour. I want to dig in right away on the case she made tonight and go straight to New Hampshire. Mark preston is there. Mark, what a fascinating town hall for a number of reasons. First and foremost because unlike a lot of her democratic competitors in the president ial field she really sort of hewed more toward maybe not the middle but certainly didnt bank left, even when she clearly knew that that would potentially benefit her with democratic voters. What were your impressions . No question, dana. She cleared her own path right now through this forest that we see in front of us. And as all these democrats, upwards to perhaps 20 democrats looking at running for president. Amy klobuchar this evening made very, very clear what path shes going to follow. Shes going to follow a more pragmatic path. When asked about the green new deal, something that she said she supports but again couldnt go in for all aspects of it knowing full well that its aspirational, like she had called it before, and she had to backtrack. Same thing on college tuition. Were on a College Campus right now. College debt is saddling so many kids right now but she would not go out and say she thinks there should be Free Education for all for four years. Fwasically, that should be left for folks who really, really need it. And also, dana, in addition to that, we also had her talk about the whole idea when talking about medicare for all, the whole idea about health care. She wouldnt go down that road. She said that she wants to get something done now. Again, a to thely different path from what were seeing from several of the other democrats. Certainly those frontrunners who are looking at running for the democratic nomination, dana. Mark, as youre speaking, were watching senator klobuchar work the crowd, talk to potential voters. Shes obviously not just speaking there, shes campaigning in the first in the nation primary state. Also with me here in new york is New York Times columnist and cnn contributor frank bruni. Frank, mark was just talking about the medicare for all answer, and that was one of the things that really struck me the most about as i mentioned to mark an area where she is different from a lot of her competitors. Watch the interaction on that. Whats been going on in this country is just wrong. Youve got people that still cant afford their health care. You have people that cant afford their prescription drugs. And thats why i believe we have to get to universal health care in this country. [ applause ] and we have to make sure that we build on the work of the Affordable Care act, which by the way was a major improvement. Whats the reservation about supporting medicare for all . Well, i think its something that we can look to for the future, but i want to get action now. And i think the best way we do that is something that we actually wanted to do back when we were looking at the Affordable Care act and we were stopped, was trying to get a public option in there. And that is a way, if you all remember that debate, that is a way to provide a public alternative thats real, even beyond the exchanges, so that we can bring down the rates. And then we can look at other options but we have to start somewhere, and i think we can do that much more immediately. So no medicare for all . It could be a possibility in the future. Im just looking at something that will work now. What was your impression of that, frank . Its interesting. A possibility in the future. Shes not shutting it down. She doesnt want to inflame the left. So shes saying i share your values. And maybe i share your longterm goals. But i want to talk about what we can do in the here and now. She did the same thing with the green new deal. She said thats aspirational, id love to see those things happen and theyre not going to happen at that time taintable. She raidmated practicality. Mark kept using the word pragmatic. In terms of her style, her specifics it was practical, practical, practical, and i think shez drug a contrast with those candidates who seem much more ideological. Shes saying if im going to have a place in this crowded primary, if im going to have a brand, my brand is going to be the common sensical candidate whos not talking about pie in the sky stuff but is talking about what i can do for you maybe in the next four years. And mark preston, one of the things at the end that struck us as we were listening and were going to hear a lot more about, her uncle dick, her uncle dick who was talking about the deer shed, and this is with regard to guns and guns in america. She was very clear about the outrage over massacres. The one recently in aurora and of course last year in parkland, but also was more practical for people who she knows and members of her family in the midwest where shes from in minnesota and other places who still want to keep some of their guns and obviously one of those is her uncle dick. And also was very important where she said it. She said it here in the state of New Hampshire where the ownership of legal guns is very, very high. But again, these are folks who use them primarily for hunting purposes. And thats the culture she grew up in. When she came on the stage tonight she made a point to say im from the north country, very similar to here in New Hampshire, to try to build the kinship in. What was interesting when we tie all these threads together and as frank says practicality. I use pragmatic pl it a. It all comes from the same place. She said one thing tonight that was not very popular but encapsulated everything she was getting at tonight. And thats when we were talking about College Education and free College Education. And don said to her hey, look, were on a College Campus, its not really popular. She said i know, but ive got to tell the truth. And thats not something weve heard certainly from any of the candidates right now who are looking at running. Theyre talk aspirational. Shes talking more practical, more pragmatic. And i should say it was deer stand, not deer shed. If i could read my own handwriting it would be a lot better. Don lemon, i think youre with us now. Great job tonight. Thank you so much. I am. Hi, dana. Thank you very much. Keeping your chair warm. What was your impression . I thought she did very well. I thought she was great. Shes warm. Shes personable. But guess what . Shes real. Shes a truth teller. And i think from being here in New Hampshire thats what people like about her, is that she is not fighting for the far left wing of the party. And so shes somewhere shes someone who is a liberal but also moderate on certain issues and i dont think will take the party to the socialist side. That is my impression of it. But just for the way she did tonight, i thought she did a fantastic job. She answered every single question directly, and if she didnt then i had a response to it to make sure she answered. One or two times i had to make sure she got back on track, but she did. And she answered when the young man said hey, what about free college . She said no, im not for fouryear free college. To have the nerve to say that on a fouryear College Campus really takes, you know . Gumption to be able to do that. And don, one of the many sort of memorable moments of the night there that you had with senator klobuchar was when she was asked about her manag