Presidential hopeful Amy Klobuchar dealt a blow to her electability in a key swing-state on Wednesday night when she incorrectly referred to badgers, the beloved mascot of University of Wisconsin, as rodents.
The foot-in-mouth moment came during a Milwaukee town hall hosted by Fox News when Klobuchar felt the need to interrupt a man before he was even able to ask his question because he welcomed her to the "Badger State."
"Thank you Benjamin from the Gopher State," Klobuchar said, a reference to the University of Minnesota mascot. "We're the only states that, like, love rodents for our names."
Klobuchar was right to refer to the gopher as a rodent, but completely off the mark on the badger, a carnivorous animal with a diet that consists mainly of lesser rodents such as gophers.
The badger was designated the official state animal of Wisconsin in 1957, and it appears on both the Wisconsin state flag and in "On, Wisconsin," the official state ballad. Unlike rodents such as gophers, rats, and mice, badgers are ferocious hunters, known to use their powerful claws to capture prey by rapidly digging into burrows.
Badgers are in the mustelid family of mammals along with the wolverine, another ferocious hunter.
Klobuchar was also wrong in her contention that Minnesota and Wisconsin, if the badger were a rodent, would be the only states to adore rodents. The beaver, Oregon's official state animal, is also a rodent.