"You Know Where She Stands": Is Elizabeth Warren the One?

[backtoblue]

Looking at the Democratic race today, it’s easy to get lost in news cycles and distracted by rehearsed “moments,” the supposed currency of the primary debates. Because politics feels so staccato-burst crazy, with our phones sucking us into the present and draining our capacity for long-term thinking, it’s understandable that observers might think that winning the day is enough to win a campaign. It’s not. Successful candidates have a clear, consistent, and compelling point of view, delivered over and over again regardless of the audience, that allows them to build a coalition of voters, raise money, stay on the offense, and avoid the hourly traps presented to them by the media and online outrage merchants.

Remarkably, with two-dozen Democrats running for president, there is only one candidate running this kind of campaign. Her name is Elizabeth Warren. And with the second round of primary debates upon us, no one is better positioned to bridge the divisions on the left and become the Democratic nominee.

Sure, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are still leading the race, thanks to their near-universal fame, but their support has creaked and wobbled with each passing day. Kamala Harris, too, has planted herself near the top of the field, but since announcing her campaign in January, Harris’s support ticked up, then down again. After her debate clash with Biden—a moment!—she saw another bump but then began to fade again, suggesting that primary voters like her but still have questions. Warren is the only serious Democrat running for president who has steadily grown her support over the duration of the campaign, a better indicator of success than any sugar-high bump in the polls.

Snip........

Wherever she is—on a debate stage, in a New Hampshire town hall meeting, speaking with local press during a tour of the Mississippi Delta—Warren’s message is the same. “What Warren has done for the last seven months is define herself, which is the holy grail in campaigns,” said Rebecca Katz, a Brooklyn-based progressive strategist. “She is comfortable in her own skin, and her team has shown that they are comfortable with their candidate, and they are willing to take her out for a spin. She will talk to any reporter, she will take a picture with anyone. Her answers are the same every time, and they won’t change, because what she says is what she really believes. You might get other candidates who give you good answers in the moment, but they might be different answers. When Warren describes something today, it’s literally how she described it 15 years ago.”

Snip......

More at link
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/07/is-elizabeth-warren-the-one/amp

Fairly long article

[BeyondGeography]

1. Good read...one worthy excerpt among many

Warren’s ability to claw her way back from the bottom of the pack demonstrates another one of her core strengths, said Colin Reed, a Republican strategist who worked for Warren’s Senate rival Scott Brown in 2012. “She just works really hard,” Reed said. “A lot of people were writing her obituary when she walked out of the gate, and she just pushed through it and worked hard. You can’t discount those things. Her schedule is packed. She is on TV all the time. She acts like she wants it and that counts for a lot. I’ve always said that those who underestimate her political skills in a primary or general do so at their own peril.”

[backtoblue]

2. I thought it was pretty good too!

Here's another excerpt.

To a person, Warren supporters can explain why. She grew up in a middle-class family in Oklahoma that suddenly found itself on the brink of financial calamity. Warren herself waited tables at a restaurant at the age of 13. Her life experience allows her to relate to voters of all ages and races and economic backgrounds who are stressed about childcare or the cost of college. Like Bill Clinton in his heyday, Warren has the ability not just to distill complicated policies into conversational terms, but to make them relatable and even transactional for voters. “She connects to people in a way that makes them feel seen, which is very rare in politics,” Katz said.