Amy Klobuchar's "rising star" got another boost this morning when the Huffington Post put her at the top of their list of the country's nine smartest senators, citing the Minnesota senator's academic credentials. (Klobuchar was the valedictorian of her high school class and graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and the University of Chicago's Law School.)
And while the article doesn't list the criteria by which the site selected its smartest senators, a fancy education seems to be the most important factor. Seven of the nine senators chosen have ties to Harvard, Yale or Oxford.
The left-leaning website named five Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent to their list. The other senators who made the cut are Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).
Hayley Tsukayama is an intern at the Star Tribune's Washington bureau.
