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Senator recalls embarrassing wardrobe malfunction weeks into first term

"Pull up your shirt, your cleavage is showing," Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar recalls in her new memoir, referring to the contents of a handwritten note she received while presiding over the Senate one day only weeks into her first term.

By Doug G. Ware
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), in her new memoir titled "The Senator Next Door," recalls an embarrassing moment that happened just weeks into her first term in 2007 -- in which an anonymous person in the Senate chamber passed her a note to pull up her shirt. Photo: UPI/Kevin Dietsch
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), in her new memoir titled "The Senator Next Door," recalls an embarrassing moment that happened just weeks into her first term in 2007 -- in which an anonymous person in the Senate chamber passed her a note to pull up her shirt. Photo: UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

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MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Minnesota's senior Senate representative wasn't always so experienced. In fact, in 2007 a curious wardrobe malfunction marked her rookie year in Washington, D.C.

In her new memoir, "The Senator Next Door: A Memoir From the Heartland," Sen. Amy Klobuchar recalls the embarrassing moment when she presided over the U.S. Senate -- just months into her freshman term -- and received a hand-written message while she stood at the dais.

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"I got an anonymous note passed through a Senate page that read, 'Senator Klobuchar, pull up your shirt, your cleavage is showing,'" she wrote.

Although she described the day as a "sleepy Thursday" and noted that the Senate chamber was virtually empty, Klobuchar said it was a moment of awakening.

"I bet that never happened to Mike Mansfield or Everett Dirksen," she writes. "I never did figure out who gave me that oh-so-helpful tip."

Klobuchar, now in her second six-year term, was Minnesota's first female senator -- and one of 20 women presently in the U.S. Senate.

Before taking office in January 2007, Klobuchar served as the county attorney in Hennepin County, Minn., for eight years.

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Incidentally, Klobuchar claims in her memoir, the exact same thing happened to former senator and current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that same year when she addressed the chamber.

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