How Elizabeth Warren Is Winning The Democratic Presidential Primary Season

[Purveyor]

By Amber Phillips December 1 at 2:14 PM

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is playing the long game to get exactly what she wants out of presidential politics — specifically, to make economic populism go mainstream. And so far, it's working out pretty great.

The liberal darling brushed off recruiting attempts to get her to run for president. Since then, she's declined to endorse anyone in the race, and her absence was a notable one Monday at an energetic Capitol Hill event at which 13 female Democratic senators endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Warren has tried her best to float above the fray of the presidential race altogether, except to cryptically say it's not time to talk about endorsements or that she'll have to wait and see what the candidates do before she makes a move.

But in staying out of the 2016 spotlight, Warren's presence (and popularity among the Democratic base) are paradoxically looming even larger over the Democratic primary. That arms-length strategy has helped Warren achieve what might not have been possible if she had actually jumped into the race herself: making the Democratic Party's economic platform sound more and more like her own.

"If you close your eyes, you might think Elizabeth Warren is talking," wrote CNN Money's Tami Luhby after Clinton launched her campaign with a video in April. The Fix observed much the same, calling the announcement — complete with Clinton's "deck is stacked" rhetoric subbed in for Warren's "system is rigged" — very Warren-esque.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/01/how-elizabeth-warren-is-winning-democratic-presidential-primary/

[Samantha]

1. When the headline featured Biden scheduling a meeting with Warren hit

there was a lot of speculation that he asked her should he run, if she would be his second. When questioned about the meeting, Warren was mum on that topic. Further questioning revealed that she had also met with Clinton and Sanders.

Biden has dropped out. We know she is keeping her distance from Clinton. That only leaves Sanders as a question mark. I have been hoping against hope that if he wins the primary, he picks her to run with him and that she says yes! If she continues to maintain she is happy where she is, I hope Sanders chooses O'Malley.

I do think the polling we are seeing is very misleading. They only measure Democratic voters, and do not take into account Republican cross-overs (Google Republicans for Sanders some time) and the fact that more than 50 percent of Independents prefer Sanders (reported here on DU).

This begs the question, is there an active arm of the Sanders' campaign steering Republicans and Independents who want him to win to check the voting rules in their states to see if they must register as a Democrat to vote in the Democratic primary. It would be a shame if a substantial portion of those voters were excluded from casting a vote for Sanders in the primary because they did not check the rules in their State.

Sam

[progressoid]

2. Rec!