Elizabeth Warren For Senate?

Elizabeth Warren for Senate?

Some are pushing to draft the Harvard professor, consumer advocate and head of the committee overseeing the Wall Street bailout to take the seat vacated by the death of Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy.

Warren, during an interview on Fox Business, was asked several times Thursday if she'd rule out accepting an appointment to the seat. "I have a job," she repeated.

But the blog post by Ethan Porter that prompted the question encouraged Warren to run for the seat outright rather than accept an appointment. The appointed senator would only serve until the beginning of next year, when an election is held, and Warren would need to give up her chairmanship of the Congressional Oversight Panel.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has announced her bid for the seat and is considered the front-runner. Coakley has battled Wall Street, as well, but let Goldman Sachs wiggle out of a prosecution earlier this year. Goldman paid $10 million to the state and $50 million to hoodwinked homeowners in exchange for Coakley's dropped prosecution.

Warren has a passionate following: "Warren in 2012!" occasionally pops up in HuffPost comments sections. Dylan Ratigan is a fan, too. "I love her. Love her," the MSNBC host said Thursday. "Actually tells the truth. Actually wants to try to improve the system."

Warren's background in consumer protection work led her to propose a Financial Product Safety Commission that would restrict the type of unsafe financial products that led to the economic collapse of 2008. Since renamed the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, it's destined for a vote in the House Financial Services Committee this fall and is fiercely opposed by banks.

Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) is an original sponsor of the legislation and credited Warren when introducing it. "I've called on Elizabeth Warren's expertise repeatedly on bankruptcy and consumer protection issues. She is a serious scholar, but she sees issues through the eyes of struggling middle class families and she talks in language that ordinary Americans easily understand," he said when asked about a Warren bid for the Senate.

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"I just hope I still get snarky e-mails from her if she becomes a Senator," he added.

As bailout watchdog, Warren has been relentless in pressing both the Treasury Department and financial institutions to explain just what it is they've done with taxpayer money.

Warren would likely become one of the most outspoken critics of Wall Street in the upper chamber, where financial industry donors have contributed millions to lawmakers. Earlier this year, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) declared that banks "frankly own the place."

Durbin's observation highlights an obstacle Warren would face if she chooses to run -- her brand of populism resonates with voters but not so much with big money donors on Wall Street. And Massachusetts is not a cheap place to run a Senate campaign.

Warren declined to comment for this story.

Watch Fox and MSNBC in a rare moment of agreement:

Comments

[Artemis34]

What a great woman!

I'm not sure this is the best fit for her. But I'm sure if she were to do it, she'd knock it out of the park.

[US1st2009]

name one congressperson who hasn't been bought or silenced by the money-power broker owners of congress? those like Ron Paul and Kucinich are just completely marginalized. Elizabeth has a powerful voice right now and is the only one free to speak truth to everyone. she can't be attacked as not knowing what she's talking about as her credentials are far greater than almost anyone else. we just need to give her current position much more power like the subpoena.

[Okieborn]

Ms. Warren is a very intelligent and caring voice for the American citizenry !!
I would hate to see her ruined by the crooked crap in Washington !!!

[oldguydude]

She obviously has the academic chops for the job, but sometimes she's across a goofball. I think she needs to stay where she is to help clean up the mess.

[rnorthro14]

Why dilute her voice by throwing her into such a corrupted body as the U.S. Senate? She needs to be out there voicing the truth. She also needs to be placed into a position of authority and where she can set policy like the Treasury Department.

[speakingtruth2power]

New Rules; She wins and becomes head of the Finance Committee.

[babyboomerorig]

Elizabeth Warren is far too important to the people of this country to be put in the middle of the mosh-pit of Congress.

She's the only unassociated person we have to speak the truth.

[LA2000]

Just because she could doesn't mean she should.

Her run for Senate would be a dream come true for Wall Street and the financial services industry. It would move her away from a position of authority and make her one of 100 chaotic voices that produces gems like the Baucus health care bill.

We need Elizabeth Warren running the Consumer Protection Agency. Or better yet, the Treasury Department. Only the enemies of reform would send her to the Senate.

[babyboomerorig]

Amen!

[Gatorray11]

She would be a great Senator. My question is can she be elected? Our system has become very corrupt. Either you have have to be a millionaire or receive tons of money from special interest to get elected. And it looks like tha partisan Republican majority on the U.S. Supreme will bail out Republicans again by permiting corporations to use corporate money to finance political campaigns.

Remember a Republican majority on the high court blessed the theft of the 2000 Florida presidential election by George II.

[helen]

I love Elizabeth Warren. But she is best where she is, working out the plans, policies, and mechanisms to reign in the banks and non-banks. In the Senate she would be stuck with a bunch of do-nothing Senators who sit on their hands waiting for their next campaign contribution.

Dr. Warren is doing so much good work and she is the right person in the right place at the right time.

Running for Senate would not make her more effective.

[texastrixie]

Elizabeth Warren has a specific expertise and integrity that will best used in an administrative capacity. She is the public's champion on $$$ from credit card companies' bloated fees to the Wall Street rape of the world economy. I would like to see her take over the new consumer financial protection agency, but it will not be in our best interests to saddle her (as Senator) with suddenly having to worry about votes on abortion funding, whether the FDA is stalling the approval of needed drugs, etc. She can do just as much good testifying before Congress and she can sitting behind the microphone, asking the questions.

[talkitreal]

She needs to be left where she is!

[lmvd3]

YES! And hopefully president someday.

[AudsMom]

She'd get my vote!

[katyann]

Elizabeth Warren is extraordinary at collecting the data before forming an opinion.
Her work on bankruptcy and the middle class showed how the common assumptions about what is torpedoing the middle class are dead wrong. Imagine this incisive mind in the senate or on the supreme court. She would be an extraordinary replacement for Sen. Kennedy.

[Madmac]

I think Elizabeth Warren would be a great choice for senator if she wants it.