# Elizabeth Warren is running for the Senate
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [September 14, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250 "2011-09-14T03:59:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/1 "2011-09-14T03:59:33Z")
[CNN article here](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/13/warren-to-announce-senate-run-challenge-brown/?hpt=hp_t2).
In short, the Harvard professor and erstwhile nominee for head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be seeking to challenge Scott Brown (or a Republican to be named later if Brown gets Teabagged) for his Senate seat in the 2012 election. I have to think that her advocacy in favor of consumers against banks and “Wall Street” will be a huge plus for her. She has shown (at least in Senate hearings) a remarkable ability to keep her cool, and I really look forward to seeing any debates that may come between her and Brown (or whoever).
I don’t live in Massachusetts, and I’m not a registered Democrat, but I’ll be watching this election with interest. I really like Warren, and I don’t think the Senate would be any worse off for having a consumer advocate with some actual knowledge of the financial world in its ranks.
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### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/2 "2011-09-14T04:01:29Z")
Trouble is, Scott Brown is the most popular politician in Massachusetts.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/3 "2011-09-14T04:37:03Z")
If I were American, I’d vote Warren for any position she ran for, just because I like her so damn much and have ever since that _Frontline_ episode about credit cards.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/4 "2011-09-14T04:43:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Trouble is, Scott Brown is the most popular politician in Massachusetts.
Cite?
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/5 "2011-09-14T04:45:26Z")
Cite? He believes it. That is his cite.
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### Author:  [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/6 "2011-09-14T11:56:24Z")
excellent! i do hope she does well.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/7 "2011-09-14T12:01:13Z")
Great! I hope she kicks some serious ass. She’s my current dream candidate for the White House in 2016.
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/8 "2011-09-14T14:12:06Z")
She is flawed. She cares about consumer rights and believes in consumer protection.
In modern right wing America, anything that takes a potential penny away from a corporation or bank is wrong. They love us .
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/9 "2011-09-14T14:16:03Z")
I don’t want to do another’s work, but I will add this:
> [@](#):
>
> Senator Scott Brown remains the most popular major political figure in Massachusetts, but his approval rating has fallen from a year ago, a sign he may be more vulnerable than anticipated as he gears up for a reelection fight, according to a Boston Globe poll.
[From here.](http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-04/news/30113168_1_poll-results-senator-scott-brown-setti-warren)
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/10 "2011-09-14T14:19:29Z")
I’d rather see her run against someone else. Scott Brown is one of the few reasonable Republicans in the Senate.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/11 "2011-09-14T16:22:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> I’d rather see her run against someone else. Scott Brown is one of the few reasonable Republicans in the Senate.
Unfortunately, she lives in Massachusetts, and would still be better. I saw her speak at my son-in-law’s law school graduation (she graduated from Rutgers Law School) and she was great. She also has a great story - she was not exactly born to wealth.
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/12 "2011-09-14T16:59:37Z")
My parents and brothers live in MA. There’s no way I’d ever convince my Fox-watching parents to vote for a Democrat, but I can try to work on my brothers who I think don’t normally vote.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/13 "2011-09-14T18:02:42Z")
> [@Voyager](#):
>
> She also has a great story - she was not exactly born to wealth.
It seems this is true of Scott Brown as well.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/14 "2011-09-14T22:53:01Z")
Warren was within single digits of Brown in the polls well before announcing. Brown now has to run on his record, and it’s not a strength, to say it mildly. He’s an empty barn coat, except, that is, when he goes off to Afghanistan to be a National Guard lawyer in his telegenic cammies.
With Warren getting media play and name rec, a platform than resonates, and an opponent who does not exude a better image than her, this will be a good one.
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/15 "2011-09-15T00:25:36Z")
I’m very excited that Warren has announced and is running. I will definitely be donating time to her campaign.
Scott Brown isn’t the worst Republican by any means and has been very smart to remain quiet lately. He has a good chance against anyone the Democrats could put up.
Elizabeth Warren is probably the best candidate they have to put up against Brown but she is by no means a sure thing. It will be a tough race.
Elizabeth Warren may be a well known name around here and among those that closely follow politics but that’s by no means a majority of voters. Her name recognition among MA voters at the highest I’ve seen is 15%. That means she is barely even defined. Scott Brown won his seat by defining Martha Coakley early in the campaign and she lacked the funding and political skill to overcome that. Brown has been fundraising since he got elected, his campaigns going to be writing up a Warren that is unpalatable to voters.
Warren is also going to have difficulties because of political realities. To come out strong and draw popular support she would be better off campaigning against Obama’s failure to fight for her and her reforms. She probably won’t do that and in the long run it would hurt her party. She’s stuck trying to argue she’ll fight for real reform in the senate without offending the Democratic party she desperately needs to fund her.
The narrative the Republicans have been successfully selling the the country is regulation is bad. Warren as someone who has been very vocal in her support of regulation has to come in and make the case it’s needed and she’s the one that can do it. She would have had a hell of an easier time of this if Obama made that argument to the country when he was trying to seat her as head of the financial regulatory comity.
I really wish the rest of the Democratic party had the fight Warren has in her.
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### Author:  [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/16 "2011-09-15T00:58:37Z")
I like her, like what she is about and I’m pissed that Obama couldn’t find a way to get her in as the head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau .
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/17 "2011-09-15T01:04:15Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#):
>
> I like her, like what she is about and I’m pissed that Obama couldn’t find a way to get her in as the head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau .
He couldn’t of gotten her in that was an impossibility. He could have made his case by trying though.
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### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/18 "2011-09-15T01:46:42Z")
Here: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott\_Brown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Brown)
> [@](#):
>
> In late June 2010, Senator Brown was ranked as “the most popular officeholder in Massachusetts” according to a poll conducted by the Boston Globe. 55% of those polled had favorable opinions of Scott Brown nearly five months after his January 19, 2010, special election victory to finish the term of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. 50% of respondents generally approved of how Sen. Brown has handled his new position.[26]
>
> On March 30, 2011, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee released a poll confirming that United States Senator Scott Brown remains the “most popular politician in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with an approval rating of 73 percent.” Brown’s “‘re-elect’ score is comfortably above 50 percent, which is unusual for a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic state.”.[27]
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/19 "2011-09-15T02:02:43Z")
[Something a little newer than March](http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/07/poll-elizabeth-warren-9-points-behind-sen-scott-brown/). As in a few days ago:
> [@](#):
>
> When paired in a hypothetical contest, 44 percent of 500 likely voters said they’d vote for Brown, compared to 35 percent who said they would vote for Elizabeth Warren. In similar hypothetical match-ups, Brown topped City Year co-founder Alan Khazei (45 percent to 30 percent), activist Bob Massie (45 percent to 29 percent) and Newton Mayor Setti Warren (no relation to Elizabeth) (46 percent to 28 percent).
Within single digits with only 15% name rec.
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### Author:  [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-warren-is-running-for-the-senate/596250/20 "2011-09-15T02:26:44Z")
Wow. Apparently in her first day on the campaign trail she managed to hit up South Boston, Framingham, Springfield, Worcester, and New Bedford, and was on Rachel Maddow in the evening. I think that’s more campaigning than Martha Coakley did in her whole race. I’m excited for this race.
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