timeline

C-SPAN


www.warren.senate.gov
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
senatorelizabethwarren
@senwarren
www.elizabethwarren.com
Elizabeth for MA
Elizabeth Warren
@elizabethforma

 PAC for a Level Playing Field
FEC (formed Dec. 20, 2012)


Supporters...




organization

FEC


readyforwarren.com
Ready for Warren
ReadyForWarren
@Warren4Prez
 www.runwarrenrun.org
Run Warren Run [MoveOn.org Political Action]
runwarrenrun2016
@runwarrenrun



Conventional Wisdom
Strengths
- Strong appeal to grassroots progressives.
- Compelling story of working her way up from humble origins.
- Originally from Oklahoma and spent some of her career in Texas so she understands the conservative mindset; indeed she was a Republican until the mid-1990s.

Weaknesses
- A liberal candidate from Massachusetts is not likely to play well in parts of the country.


Notes, Coverage and Speeches
May 2, 2014 - Discussing her book at the AFL-CIO.
 May 22, 2014 - New Populism Conference. Sept. 18, 2014 - Americans United for Change rally.

2015 - In early June, MoveOn.org Political Action and Democracy for America announced they were suspending their Run Warren Run effort.  Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, stated, “Even without her in the race, Elizabeth Warren and the Run Warren Run campaign she inspired have already transformed the 2016 presidential election by focusing every single Democratic candidate on combatting our country’s income inequality crisis.”  For six months Run Warren Run had run a serious campaign, including opening offices and putting staff on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire (+).  There were other initiatives as well.  On Feb. 2 a group of more than 90 actors and artists issued a letter "passionately" urging Warren to run for president.  "Our country needs someone who will stand up for working families and take on the Wall Street banks and special interests that broke our economy," the letter stated (+).  And in a March 22, the Boston Globe added its voice in an editorial "Democrats need Elizabeth Warren's voice in 2016 presidential race (>)."  Some of the draft Warren energy may transfer to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); indeed the New Hampshire field director for Run Warren Run left to join Sanders' campaign in the latter part of May.

2014 - Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) makes her populist argument in A Fighting Chance (Metropolitan Books, April 22, 2014).  In an appearance to promote the book she stated,
"The game is rigged.  The rich and the powerful have lobbyists, have lawyers, have good friends in Congress.  Everyone else, not so much.  So this is how I thing about it.  We can whine about it.  We can whimper.  Or we can fight back.  Me, I'm planning to fight back."

Warren's fighting spirit was evident in mid-December when the lame duck Congress debated and passed the $1.1 trillion "cromnibus" spending bill, including a provision "written by lobbyists for Citigroup," which will repeal the "prohibition against federal government bailouts of swaps entities."  Warren's efforts to remove the "Wall Street giveaway" proved unsuccessful, but the action was a perfect illustration of her argument.

With her outspoken positions against excesses of Wall Street and the big banks, her support for refinancing of student loans, her and calls to strengthen Social Security, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has earned an enthusiastic following among progressives, many of whom would love to see her run for president in 2016. 

The fact that the "people's champion" has been saying for over a year that she is not running for president has not stopped progressive activists from trying to persuade her to run.  There have been a number of small efforts.  For example, Robel Tekleab of Des Moines launched a modest Facebook page, Draft Elizabeth Warren for President 2016, on Dec. 12, 2013.  A tumblr page appeared (ready4warren.tumble.com) which provided flyers that people can print out (+).  The first organized group, Ready for Warren PAC (subsequently re-named Ready for Warren Presidential Draft Campaign), made its public appearance at the Netroots Nation conference in July, including a catchy theme song (+).  The super PAC, which formally filed with the FEC on Aug. 7, reported a very modest total of $39,799.45 raised through Nov. 24 (post-general report).  It is headed by Erica Sangers, a former Obama staffer, and run by volunteers (+).  In December Ready for Warren released an open letter from more than 200 former Obama staffers calling on Warren to run.  Also in December, Progressive Change Campaign Committee sent organizer Don Weigel to New Hampshire to meet with local activists; NHJournal's John DiStaso reported Weigel met with activists to discuss how to advance Warren's "big economic populism ideas" over coffee in Portsmouth on Dec. 20 and Manchester on Dec. 21. 

However, the big boost to the effort occurred, on Dec. 9-10, when, following a vote of members, MoveOn.org Political Action launched Run Warren Run, vowing to "invest at least $1 million in the first phase of the launch." (+)  The group held a kick-off event in Des Moines, Iowa on Dec. 17 (+), during which a representative from Democracy for America Action (DFA Action) announced that its members supported urging Warren to run and that the group would make a $250,000 commitment toward the effort.

popular on the stump in the midterms...


 

Readings
Elizabeth Warren.  April 22, 2014.  A FIGHTING CHANCE.  Metropolitan Books [Macmillan Publishers imprint].
"In this passionate, funny, rabble-rousing book, Warren shows why she has chosen to fight tooth and nail for the middle class—and why she has become a hero to all those who believe that America’s government can and must do better for working families."



Articles
Charles P. Pierce.  "Elizabeth Warren is the Teacher"  Esquire, April 21, 2014.
Noam Scheiber.  "Hillary's Nightmare?  A Democratic Party That Realizes Its Soul Lies With Elizabeth Warren.  The New Republic,  Nov. 10, 2013.
  this page last revised June 2, 2015
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