Warren Enters the Fray

Today Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Professor and architect of the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced her plans to run for US Senate in Massachusetts. In an email to her supporters, Warren highlights her recent listening tour of the state citing her experience "listening to folks all across our state who know that we can do better, people who are frustrated like I am that Washington just doesn't get it".

Ms. Warren is not only painting herself as at odds with Senator Scott Brown, but is also subtly contrasting herself with the Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley, who lost the 2010 special election against Brown for Senator Kennedy's vacant seat. Coaklley infamously derided the idea that she had to "stand outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?" because she already had the support of the Mayor and school board of Salem. With comments like these, Coakly easily fit the stereotype of a northeastern liberal, disconnected from the people. Warren, on the other hand, is depicting herself as an advocate of working Americans who have been left behind. On her website, she highlights her middle class upbringing and her car experience as the "New Sheriff on Wall Street."

On a day when Republicans gained another seat in the House - that of former Congressman, and perpetual punchline, Anthony Weiner - Warren's entrance into the Senate race is a ray of hope for Liberals in Massachussets, and beyond. There is little doubt that Democrats hope to make the tenure of Scott Brown an abbreviated one - a mere blip in the history books between the Lion of the Senate and the New Sherriff of Wall Street.