Elizabeth Warren always has been known for having sharp elbows.
She bullied her way through academia. It’s a trait that has carried over to her politics.
Warren’s first instinct always is to attack in very personal ways, then play victim when there is pushback.
I experienced a small example of that during Warren’s 2012 campaign against Scott Brown.
When Legal Insurrection continued to pursue the issue of Warren’s false claim for employment purposes to be Native American, Warren’s campaign apparatus tried to label me a “right wing extremist.” But Warren’s campaign never was able to point to a single fact we got wrong.
The Native American issue has dogged Warren. Her supporters may not care, but her refusal to admit to what she did and to apologize has become her political persona. It came up repeatedly in her Twitter fights with Donald Trump.
As Eric Fehrnstrom, a former Scott Brown strategist, recently wrote in The Boston Globe, The polarizing Elizabeth Warren:
A populist who claims to represent the common people. A habit of demonizing opponents. Late night Twitter tantrums. Donald Trump? No, Elizabeth Warren, who is just as polarizing.When Warren announced her 2018 reelection campaign last week, she chose not to stand with friends and supporters in Massachusetts. There was no summary of her accomplishments. No testimonials from people she has helped….Ad hominem attacks, claims of corruption, allegations of selling legislation for campaign contributions — Warren sprayed her accusations everywhere….The bad news for Warren is that her act is losing its appeal. In a preelection poll by Morning Consult, Warren had the second highest disapproval rating among New England’s 12 senators, at 33 percent….
WBUR Poll: Republican Gov. Baker More Popular Than Democrat Sen. Warren
Over four years in office, Elizabeth Warren has staked her claim as the Senate’s liberal lion. And many Massachusetts voters like it — 51 percent view her favorably.But according to a new WBUR poll, only 44 percent think Warren “deserves reelection.” Forty-six percent think voters ought to “give someone else a chance.””No one’s going to look at a 44 percent reelect number and think that that’s a good number,” said Steve Koczela, president of The MassINC Polling Group, which conducts surveys for WBUR. “No one’s going to look at it being close to even between ‘reelect’ and ‘give someone else a chance’ and think that that’s reassuring.”….How could the state’s top Republican be more popular than its top Democrat? Steve Koczela says it’s about bipartisanship.”When you look at Elizabeth Warren’s favorables, only 12 percent of Republicans have a favorable view of her,” Koczela said. “When you look at Baker, 60 percent of Democrats view him favorably. So he has bipartisan appeal where Elizabeth Warren really never has.”
The polling presents a dilemma for Warren. As she stakes out the position of lead attack dog against Trump to set herself up for a presidential run in 2020, she has to become even more vitriolic. But that may drive independent Massachusetts voters away.
Baker is up for reelection in 2018, and Dems are targeting him.
The WBUR article points out that Baker has campaign funds on hand for 2018 of $4.8 million, more than Warren has at this point (though liberal money will flow in for her from around the country, as it did in 2012). This shows that Baker has the ability to raise money.
But would Baker run to challenge Elizabeth Warren rather than for reelection now that it’s clear Warren is vulnerable? It would make that MA Senate race the race to watch in 2018.
[Note: An earlier link to a Politico article was removed from the post.]
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