The Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, a fundraiser/rallying affair that often draws the party's big stars, has announced its 2014 headliner. (Drum roll sound effect.) It's Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the two-termer whose state happens to border Iowa, unlike 2013 keynoter Sen. Chuck Schumer. The New York senator has never pretended to harbor presidential ambitions, but Klobuchar has captivated reporters who want someone, anyone, to give Hillary Clinton a hurdle on her road to the White House. To wit:

Amy Klobuchar keynoting the Iowa Dems' big-deal JJ dinner. Someone else, it seems, is not Ready for Hillary.

— Scott Conroy (@RealClearScott) September 16, 2014

Amy Klobuchar going to Iowa to headline Jefferson Jackson dinner. always hearing a small bit of buzz about her and 2016.

— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) September 16, 2014

One problem with this theory: Klobuchar, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and every other female Democratic senator, long ago signed a letter calling on Hillary Clinton to run for president. Just three months ago, she signed on to a Minnesota fundraiser for Ready for Hillary, the just-add-water group rallying support for the Restoration. Klobuchar's long game, as Kate Nocera reports, looks to be remaining a popular senator in a blue state who lobbies other women to run for the upper house. Now, that doesn't hurt her if Hillary Clinton decides not to run for president, or (more likely, not that either scenario is likely) starts collapsing in trial heats with 2016 GOP candidates. At that point Democrats would become more interested in the not-Clintons. But for now? No. Phony Klobucharmania has bitten the dust.