Amy Klobuchar: “I would first like to thank the Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Coburn, for allowing me to take a few minutes to speak about…”

“I would first like to thank the Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Coburn, for allowing me to take a few minutes to speak about something very important in my State--the fact that tomorrow would be Hubert Humphrey's 100th birthday. Hubert Humphrey was our ``Happy Warrior'' in Minnesota. He was the son of a smalltown South Dakota drugstore owner who lifted himself up through hard work and determination to become the mayor of Minneapolis, a U.S. Senator representing Minnesota, and the 38th Vice President of the United States of America. I actually have Hubert Humphrey's desk--something I requested when I got to the Senate. It somehow got in a different category, and for the first 2 years I had the desk of the former Senator from New Hampshire, Gordon Humphrey. But then, lo and behold, with the start of this last Congress, I did get Hubert Humphrey's desk. I was a senior in high school when Hubert Humphrey passed away, and I can still remember standing in line for his funeral in St. Paul. It was January, and it was one of those days where it was below zero-- freezing. Yet there we were, standing outside the State capitol, all of us in our puffy winter jackets, 40,000 people waiting to pay our respects. That is how much Hubert Humphrey was loved in our State, loved enough for people to stand outside for hours in the dead cold of a Minnesota winter. I can honestly say that Humphrey had an enormous impact on my own views of public service.…”