Cillizza: Friday Senate Line: Democrats get their woman in Massachusetts. Now what?
Sep 16, 2011
After months of searching for a top-tier candidate to take on Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) in 2012, national Democrats — finally — landed their pick in the form of former Obama Administration official Elizabeth Warren.
Now that Warren is in the race, the question is what kind of candidate will she be?
Democrats insist early returns are promising, noting that Warren was at a “T” stop in Boston at 7 am on the first day of her campaign and kept at it until late at night.
One day, of course, does not a campaign make. And Republicans will work very hard to paint Warren as an out-of-touch Harvard elitist — Warren is on staff at Harvard Law School — who can’t win over the blue-collar Democrats who will likely be the swing vote of this election.
What we know about Warren is that she will be a terrific fundraiser with national reach thanks to her status as hero of the liberal left. (Warren led a congressional committee that oversaw the bank bailouts of 2008 and went on to build the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a role for which she was lionized by Democrats and villainized by Republicans.)
That should make Warren a favorite in the Democratic primary next September over lesser knowns like Newton Mayor Setti Warren and 2010 special election candidate Alan Khazei.
Against Brown, however, Warren may find herself playing catch-up financially. Brown ended June with $9.6 million in the bank and Warren’s candidacy almost certainly will be a boost to his national fundraising.
Given the difficulties of the map facing Democrats in 2012 — 23 of their own seats are up as compared to just 10 for Republicans — making a major push in Massachusetts was an absolute necessity.
Warren gives them the sort of high-profile candidate they wanted. Whether she turns out to be a truly good candidate on the stump remains to be seen.
As always, the number one ranked race on the Line is considered the most likely to switch party control in 2012.