Elizabeth Warren getting even more hype for a Presidential run
by David Atkins
Elizabeth Warren is getting a lot of attention around the left-leaning media for her recent barn-burning speech at a recent fundraiser in Minnesota. Watch:
Chris Cilizza suggests that Warren’s language represents a strong case for her to run for President:
As we’ve written before, Warren has the national profile, the liberal icon status and the demonstrated fundraising capacity — $40 million for a Senate race ain’t too shabby — that would, theoretically give her a chance to run as the liberal/non-establishment alternative to Clinton. Now, we don’t think she’s running. And, even if she did Clinton would be tough to beat.
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Now fast forward to Iowa in the fall of 2015. And imagine Warren telling a crowd packed with Democratic activists this: “I’m fighting to level that playing field. I’m fighting to build real oppoortunity, fighting to give every child a chance to build something extraordinary. And I want you to fight alongside me. We are in this together.” Or condemning the “big banks [who] looted the economy.” Or slamming Ted Cruz, who could well be in Iowa at the same time, as someone who if he was “around for the Declaration of Independence, he would have tried to repeal it because Jefferson was a Democrat.”
It’s a powerful riff — particularly in a place like Iowa where the average voter is likely more liberal than Clinton. And it’s one that Hillary Clinton due to the very Hillary Clinton-ness that she represents wouldn’t (and couldn’t) give.
Again, Elizabeth Warren is almost certainly not running for president in 2016. But if she did, she might be able to make it one hell of a race.
And no surprise. Warren is currently at the top of Quinnipiac’s political thermometer:
According to a survey out this week showing Quinnipiac University’s National Thermometer rankings, voters have cooled on New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie in the wake of allegations that staffers closed lanes on the George Washington Bridge, seemingly for political retribution, and withheld relief aid following Hurricane Sandy. Christie’s administration has denied the Sandy allegations.
Christie scored a 45.2 degree mean temperature in this week’s poll, down from 55.5 degrees at the beginning of the year – a difference that dropped him from the “hottest” politician in the nation all the way down to ninth place.
But Christie’s loss is Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s gain – the progressive rising star has secured the top slot in voters’ minds. With a 48.6 degree score, Warren is now the hottest political leader in the game.
Despite her popularity, however, it seems many people still don’t know that much about her. Forty-six percent of American voters said they lacked enough information to form an opinion of the Massachusetts senator, according to the poll.
Nipping at Warren’s heels is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who came in at 47.8 degrees with only 1% saying they didn’t know enough about her. Though Clinton still swears she’s not after the presidency, she’s sure talking like a potential 2016 candidate.
Warren’s unknowns remain her greatest drawback in any potential run for President. Clinton’s best argument is that she remains very popular, and there’s nothing the GOP can throw at her that the public doesn’t already know. But the flip side of that coin for Warren is that the more people learn about her and hear from her, the more they like her. She speaks truth to power, is unflinching in her advocacy for popular progressive positions, and has the one quality in a politician that is hard to fake: authenticity.
As the engines start revving for 2016, the calls for Warren to enter the race are only going to get louder.
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