

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar appears at a get-out-the-vote rally in support of Democratic Sen. Al Franken and Minnesota Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 23. (Ann Heisenfelt/AP)

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) won reelection to a second term two years ago, so she spent most of Tuesday phoning colleagues who were on the ballot across the country.

Her call sheet included conversations with several Republicans — Sens. John Cornyn (Tex.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Mike Enzi (Wyo.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) — who she's worked with on "modest bipartisan proposals" regarding economic and crime and justice issues, she said Wednesday during an interview with The Washington Post.

After her phone calls, "There seems to be a genuine interest to move forward," she said. "We can't handle another year of partisan sniping and the Ted Cruz view of the world. This year is a precious year, and we could move forward on so many things."

She cited a desire among several colleagues to work on tax reform — including ways to curb the practice of corporations relocating overseas to ease their tax burden — immigration reform and quickly approving a handful of noncontroversial ambassador nominees.

"When you hear about bills sitting on Harry Reid's desk, a lot of them are bipartisan," she said. "But many have been held up by Republicans despite House passage."

She again cited Cruz (R-Tex.), who she faulted for holding up several minor bills in hopes of securing votes on unrelated issues. Ideally, GOP senators will agree during the lame-duck session to quickly pass dozens of pieces of legislation, either after just a few hours of debate or unanimously.

"We have some noncontroversial things we need to get done," she said.

If Klobuchar could have her colleagues do it all over again, she said she would have encouraged them to speak more frequently about economic issues on the campaign trail.

She cited last night's victories by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), who spoke frequently about national and state-specific economic concerns. All three essentially delivered a similar message: "It's tough times, but we're determined to do things to help our state," she said. They also talked about current challenges and economic challenges to come — including the need to raise the federal minimum wage.

Others Democrats might have discussed the economy, she said, but "I'm wondering if our national theme just got muddled."