She's In -Hear Why - I am In with her, Will YOU JOIN US TOO?

Elizebeth Warren needs us, and we need to work for her election to the US Senate, more than any other campaign including the Presidents!

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS and with added photographs from the editor of this blog.

September 14, 2011

BOSTON - Harvard Law professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren officially launched her Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate today by greeting commuters at a rail station in Boston before embarking on a tour of the state.

"The pressures on middle-class families are worse than ever, but it is the big corporations that get their way in Washington," Warren said in a statement released Tuesday announcing her bid. "I want to change that. I will work my heart out to earn the trust of the people of Massachusetts."

She planned to travel Wednesday to New Bedford, Framingham, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, and Gloucester to meet voters.

Warren was heavily courted to join the race. Democrats have been seeking a major challenger for the seat long held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Hoping to hold on to their narrow Senate majority, Democrats have made Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown a top target in the blue state. Kennedy's former seat has special significance for Massachusetts Democrats.

Warren was tapped by President Barack Obama last year to set up a new consumer protection agency, but congressional Republicans opposed her leading the office. She worked to set up the agency before returning to Massachusetts this summer.

Supporters say her image as a crusader against well-heeled Wall Street interests and her national profile will give her candidacy muscle, though she's never run for political office.

Warren, 62, is a favorite of liberals and consumer groups, but some Democrats, including Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, have voiced skepticism about how strong a candidate she will be, given her lack of political experience.

Republicans have already branded Warren as a liberal academic whose Harvard ties put her out of touch with the concerns of working families. They've also mocked her as an outsider whose roots are in Oklahoma, not Massachusetts.

Democratic leaders, however, said her national profile would help her raise the money needed to topple Brown, who has more than $10 million in his campaign account. Democrats contend that while Brown has strong ties to Wall Street and other powerful financial interests, Warren's long career as a consumer advocate offers a striking contrast for voters who care deeply about jobs and the ailing economy.

A recent Boston Globe poll showed Brown as the most popular major politician in the traditionally Democratic state. Brown shocked the political establishment by beating Martha Coakley in last year's special election to succeed Kennedy. 

After announcing that his daughters were "available" during Tuesday night's victory speech, an Animal New York tipster unearthed this Massachusetts' newest senator posing with his shell bikini-clad girls. Also, check out Ayla's MySpace and Facebook pages. The Boston College senior was a semi-finalist on American Idol. Arianna, according to her Facebook page, is a freshman at Syracuse University.

He was a little-known state senator who cast himself as a moderate, an average guy with his trademark barn coat and pickup truck. 

He once posed as a Cosmopolitan magazine centerfold.

Coakley, the state's attorney general, was widely seen as an early favorite, but she ran a lackluster race. She famously mocked Brown for greeting voters outside Boston's Fenway Park in freezing weather, a gaffe that cost her votes because she was seen as taking the race for granted.

Warren has spent the past several weeks meeting with party activists and voters across the state as part of what she called a listening tour. She's already gotten a boost from EMILY's List, which raises money for female Democratic candidates. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a national liberal group, has been raising money and seeking campaign volunteers for Warren for weeks.

Other Democrats already announced include Setti Warren, no relation to the consumer advocate, the first-term mayor of the affluent Boston suburb of Newton and the state's first popularly elected black mayor; City Year youth program co-founder Alan Khazei; immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco; state Rep. Tom Conroy; and Robert Massie, who unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor in 1994.

Charles Gilboy, a spokesman for Setti Warren, said Democrats will be looking to nominate the best possible candidate to run in the 2012 election.

"The fact is that Setti Warren is the strongest candidate in this race to go toe to toe with Scott Brown," said Gilboy. "He is an Iraq War veteran, and a mayor who has helped to create jobs in his own community. This doesn't change our strategy; Democratic voters want to nominate a candidate who can beat Scott Brown."

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Miga in Washington and Bob Salsberg in Boston contributed to this report.

Today - I am Running!

Dear John & Gail, I'm running! Today, I am launching my campaign to represent the people of Massachusetts in the United States Senate. After 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, I'm running for the Senate so I can fight every day for Massachusetts families. I want you to be one of the very first to know about my decision -- so I hope you'll take a minute to watch this short video: Watch my announcement video Washington gives some of the biggest corporations in the world special loopholes and tax breaks, while middle-class families and small businesses struggle. This is wrong. Our hard-working families deserve someone who believes in them, someone who is going to stand up and fight for their interests. That's why I'm running for the United States Senate. I've fought all my life for working families, and I've stood up to some pretty powerful interests. Now those interests are sure to line up against our campaign -- and that's why I'm asking you to help me build the grassroots support we need to beat them. Please share my announcement video with your family and friends: Forward this email, share on Facebook, or post on Twitter. We have a chance to help restore America's middle class. We have a chance to make opportunity available again, so families and small businesses can get ahead. We can do this -- together. Thank you for standing with me, Elizabeth

Warren gives keynote address at labor council breakfast - The Boston Globe

Warren addresses labor council

One candidate says she gets spotlight over those declared

Elizabeth Warren, possible Senate candidate, spoke with Mayor Thomas M. Menino at the Greater Boston Labor Council’s Labor Day Breakfast at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)

By Noah Bierman Globe Staff / September 6, 2011

Elizabeth Warren has yet to officially declare that she is running for US Senate, but the former presidential aide took another step yesterday toward fortifying her position as the choice of the Democratic establishment - a trend that is beginning to wear on the Democrats who have already entered the race.

Introducing Warren at the annual Labor Day breakfast yesterday, the president of the Greater Boston Labor Council compared her to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, while the state’s top union and Democratic political leaders stood and applauded her fiery keynote address at the event.

It was her most public introduction to date after a month of invitation-only house parties. But she has yet to face audiences outside her party’s core liberal base.

Three of the other Democratic candidates in the field trying to unseat Republican Scott Brown were left to mingle on the sidelines of the Park Plaza ballroom as Warren stood beside Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, and other party notables on a stage in front of about 500 union leaders.

One candidate - Bob Massie - complained openly that Warren had been given the highprofile position with more than a year left before the Democratic primary that includes six declared candidates.

Warren received the most sustained applause at the end of her 20-minute speech, when she spoke directly about a potential candidacy.

“Whether I fight as an outsider or I fight from the floor of the Senate,’’ she said before she was interrupted by an ovation, “I will continue to stand for you.’’

A Harvard professor unknown to most of the electorate, Warren delivered a speech emphasizing her working-class roots and her history as an advocate who fought banking lobbyists to establish a consumer protection agency on behalf of President Obama.

Amid Republican opposition, Obama ultimately passed her over this summer for the job leading that agency.

Yesterday, Warren sprinkled her speech with anecdotes intended to present herself as a regular person, talking about the backyard barbecue she attended last Labor Day with family in Plymouth.

She spoke about her brother, a retired crane operator and joked to the crowd that he had warned her not to embarrass herself in front of his fellow union members. And she told her “David beats Goliath’’ tale about how she took on the Wall Street banks.

It was a talk clearly tailored to the union audience. She said expanding the right to unionize will be one of her top three priorities - along with education and construction investment. She also listed renewable energy, science research, and “a level playing field for small businesses’’ as other goals.

The president of the labor council, Louis Mandarini, spoke for several minutes about the warm, personal relationship that organized labor had with Kennedy, who was replaced by Brown last year when he won a special election.

Mandarini said that after spending almost an hour with Warren last week, he came away feeling that - much like Kennedy - “she understands us.’’

Warren’s Democratic competitors have yet to challenge her directly.

But Massie, a former candidate for lieutenant governor, said yesterday that he had spoken with the labor council after learning that she would deliver the keynote address.

“I hope that the labor movement shows the same kind of fairness that they expect for themselves and gives others the same opportunity to speak and represent themselves as [they do] Elizabeth Warren,’’ he said. “Inviting her to speak and saying that she’s not a candidate is a technicality at this point.’’

Massie said he did not want to see another union endorse Warren without first speaking with him and the other candidates, as the Massachusetts Nurses Association did last month.

“I’m surprised that Elizabeth Warren did not issue some caution herself about the process that should be open and fair,’’ he said.

Other candidates in attendance, City Year cofounder Alan Khazei and Mayor Setti Warren of Newton, did not criticize the event’s organizers. But they still had questions, according to Rich Rogers, executive secretary of the council.

“We invited Elizabeth Warren because she’s a national figure who took on Wall Street,’’ Rogers said. “If she’s a Senate candidate, great.’’

The other candidates sound increasingly willing to cast Elizabeth Warren as an establishment choice, presenting themselves as the grass-roots alternative.

“I’ve been out there for 13 weeks, 90 stops in the last 13 weeks,’’ Setti Warren said yesterday as he worked the crowd.

“The race is going to be decided by the people of Massachusetts, the voters of Massachusetts,’’ he continued. “I believe I’m the best person to take on Scott Brown.’’

Khazei, the most successful fund-raiser on the Democratic side, said he would welcome Elizabeth Warren to the race if she decides to run, but then tried to draw a contrast to her standing as an establishment choice.

He said the only way to move the logjam in Washington is to build a new citizens’ movement to counter the Tea Party movement.

“I have been working 25 years from the grass roots up,’’ he said. “My focus is on finding solutions that are from the community.’’

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahbierman.

Warren gives keynote address at labor council breakfast - The Boston Globe

Rep. Capuano Won’t Run for Senate Seat in Massachusetts - Washington Wire - WSJ

Rep. Capuano Won’t Run for Senate Seat in Massachusetts - Washington Wire - WSJ

Elizabeth Warren Update Stay Tuned Today!

Elizabeth Warren to address Mass. Labor Day event

John Bangert  welcomes Elizabeth Warren to Cape Cod on her "Listening Tour".

  September 5, 2011

BOSTON—Harvard Law School professor and potential U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is set to address a Labor Day gathering in Boston.

Warren, a Democrat, will deliver the keynote address Monday at a breakfast held by the Greater Boston Labor Council. It's her first major speech since her announcement last month of an exploratory committee to consider a challenge to Republican Sen. Scott Brown next year.

If Warren runs, she will join a Democratic field that already includes City Year co-founder Alan Khazei (KAY'-zee), Newton Mayor Setti Warren, state Rep. Thomas Conroy (D-Wayland), and Robert Massie, a one-time candidate for lieutenant governor.

Warren was chosen by President Barack Obama last year to set up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But congressional Republicans opposed her becoming the bureau's director.