Elizabeth Warren looks poised to run for Senate seat from Massashusetts

Warren looks poised to run for Senate seat

MASSACHUSETTS US SENATE CAMPAIGN 2012

Online posting indicates strong interest in race 

August 12, 2011

By Theo Emery, Globe Staff

Elizabeth Warren hasn't disclosed her plans, but some say her intentions are clear.

WASHINGTON - Elizabeth Warren, the architect of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sent her clearest signal yet yesterday that she will challenge Republican Scott Brown for his Senate seat.

In a posting on a website supportive of the Democratic Party, Warren tells the tale of her Aunt Bee and Aunt Bert. Her father’s heart attack and the family’s struggle to pay its bills. Her battle scars from Washington, her empathy for middle-class families in Massachusetts, and lastly, her entreaties for ideas on fixing “a badly broken political system.’’

 “If the question is ‘Will she run,’ I think she’s putting her track shoes on,’’ said Tufts University political science professor James M. Glazer. “It’s pretty clear.’’

here has been widespread speculation that Warren might challenge Brown for the seat that he won in a special election early last year after the death of Edward M. Kennedy. 

Up until yesterday, Warren has not broadcast her intentions, but some activists have urged her to add her name to the field that already includes seven Democrats, including Mayor Setti Warren of Newton and City Year founder Alan Khazei. 

Although Elizabeth Warren’s posting does not explicitly say she will run, it dispels any uncertainty about her interest. She has enlisted the assistance of two Democratic operatives with a track record: Governor Deval Patrick’s former campaign manager, Doug Rubin, and Patrick’s former communications manager, Kyle Sullivan. Also, she was calling activists, office holders, and state party officials, including Democratic Party chairman John Walsh, yesterday afternoon.

Longtime Democratic political consultant Mary Anne Marsh said there has been a crescendo of chatter among Massachusetts Democrats this week over Warren’s possible bid. The blog post, she said, “sounds like a candidate to me’’ and puts to rest any doubt about Warren’s intentions.

“It’s very clear from all the signs that Elizabeth Warren is putting a campaign together. It looks like she’s getting into the Senate race, and that she’ll make that announcement just after Labor Day,’’ Marsh said.

A group of activists is already planning for such an announcement. A political action committee called the Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched an online petition drive that it said had already attracted some 47,000 signers and $45,000 in donations.

Sullivan, reached yesterday, confirmed that he was working for Warren, but declined to comment beyond what was in the blog posting. Warren did not return a message left at her Cambridge home.

Timothy Buckley, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Republican Party, dismissed Warren’s overture, calling her “a liberal professor who believes in big government and higher taxes.’’