Elizabeth Warren For Senate Petition Launched By Progressives

WASHINGTON -– If progressives can’t have Elizabeth Warren as the head of the federal government’s new consumer watchdog agency, they want her to be the next senator from Massachusetts.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee had already run a massive petition drive aimed at convincing President Obama to name her to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but with his announcement Monday that former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray would get the post instead, they are switching gears.

Before the afternoon is done, the liberal group is expected to launch a campaign to draft Warren to run for Senate against freshman Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) It has already begun fundraising for a potential Warren run.

Some 350,000 people signed the petition to make Warren the nation's consumer finance cop, and all of them will be recruited to back Warren for Senate. They will be asked how much time and money they can donate to a Warren campaign, said Adam Green, a co-founder.

"We still need Elizabeth Warren's fierce advocacy for working families. And fortunately, it's reported that she's considering a run for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in her home state of Massachusetts," the group's founders write in an email pitch being sent out Monday.

"If the idea of Senator Elizabeth Warren inspires you, let her know! Join our new 'Draft Elizabeth Warren
for Senate' campaign today," it continues. "Elizabeth Warren is a bold progressive icon. And it's fitting that she'd be the one to win back Ted Kennedy's seat from Republican Scott Brown in 2012."

Many national Democrats think Warren is the best shot they have at unseating Brown, who has been polling well in the Bay State in spite of its Democratic leanings. But in case Warren is leery of Brown's poll numbers, PCCC wants her to know that hundreds of thousands of people will have her back.

"After a tough loss, we have to fight even harder -- and help Elizabeth Warren get back in the ring," the email says. "Let's tell her that if she runs and keeps fighting for us against powerful interests, a grassroots army will be there to support her candidacy."

Even though the PCCC may be able to help Warren reach the Senate, the group has not forgiven the president for bypassing her for the CFPB post. It is continuing its push to get progressives to bail on Obama if he agrees to make cuts to Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security in any deal with the GOP to extend the debt ceiling.

Comments

[Haitiana4Obama]

10:41 AM on 07/21/2011

I hope no one "boos" me, but I wish Warren would run somewhere else. Scott Brown might be a TeaPublican, but he's proving to be mostly one in name only...he's more of a classical Conservative then anything. I think there are far more dangerous genuine TeaPublicanTs which need to be voted out of office...Brown isn't as harmful as some others. In any case good luck Ms. Warren.

[brokerallen]

02:46 PM on 07/20/2011

If Warren were elected to the U.S. Senate it would be poetic justice.

[lvogt]

11:45 AM on 07/20/2011

It seems she would have more direct influence in the administration as opposed to being one of a hundred senators. Still, she'd be an excellent Senator.

[minnehot]

09:28 AM on 07/20/2011

I would be delighted if Elizabeth would run for the Senate in Mass. next year! Be sure to siphon off as much of that left wing wacko campaign dough as you can gather! We very much appreciate it:

'A new Public Opinion Strategies poll finds Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) leading potential challenger Elizabeth Warren (D) by a 53% to 28% margin among likely 2012 voters.

The poll also showed Brown with a 62% favorable rating'

GOP '12

[lvogt]

11:47 AM on 07/20/2011

I note your icon. Reagan fought the GOP to raise the debt ceiling when they were being foolish back then. He did cut taxes but then raised them because it made sense.

[CarlIII]

12:14 AM on 07/20/2011

She may see the Senate as a place she can get things done. She could be the head of the Banking commitee.

[corwin]

10:45 PM on 07/19/2011

Wouldn't she have to be elected,though?

[Gerri Ziegler]

07:37 PM on 08/11/2011

And she will be. Elected.

[pollclaire]

01:58 AM on 07/19/2011

Fight for your government, or you won't have one.

[tamashi]

01:21 AM on 07/19/2011

Ted Kennedy's Senate seat ??? Since when did MA senate seat become a family's property. You liberals are quite funny.

[Gerri Ziegler]

07:44 PM on 08/11/2011

Actually, Ted Kennedy sat in that seat for about 54 years. I would say it was his. Now it will be Elizabeth's temporarily as a stepping stone to the presidency.

[StevenF]

08:10 PM on 07/18/2011

Yes She Will

[Pod-gers]

08:05 PM on 07/18/2011

I sure hope that the dems do not waste Elizabeth Warren's talents on a run against Scott Brown. Instead, she should be on Obama's ticket as VP. Then she can run for president in 2016.

[Gerri Ziegler]

07:46 PM on 08/11/2011

That is very interesting...

[bunkerhiller]

07:33 PM on 07/18/2011

As a MA citizen, I am very excited by the prospect of having Elizabeth Warren represent this state in the US Senate. She is a tough, brilliant progressive, who will fight hard for the middle class and working Americans. The late progressive Senator Paul Wellstone once said while he needed 10 progressives to join him in the Senate, he would be happy with one Elizabeth Warren. So MA, if the choice boils down to another progressive lion in the Senate fighting the right-wingers and tea baggers vs. a good looking former Cosmo centerfold in a pick up truck, who would you pick? The sad thing is, I'm afraid of your answer!

[Pod-gers]

08:09 PM on 07/18/2011

That is exactly the kind of trash talk that Coakley used, and why voters in MA chose Scott Brown.

[bunkerhiller]

09:24 AM on 07/19/2011

Hmmmmmm interesting take. So you are saying that because of the voters' moral indignation at Martha Coakley's (and my) "trash talk", they happily voted against their own best interests to preserve their moral integrity? If that's true, then we have a problem. How ironic, though, that is the tactic the Repubs have been using for eons, using moral issues to get people to vote against their own interests, and win elections! I simply thought that we had an uninspiring Democratic candidate who gave a lack luster performance in debates and on the campaign trail. Scott Brown's good looks, sex appeal, and charisma certainly stood out against Coakley's image, and like it or not, that does count to many voters. So that Republican tactic worked again, right here in good ol liberal MA. Republican appeal to emotion and morality, then when elected, stick em with policies that favor only corporate greed, and to hell with everyone else. Only difference is, Scott Brown really didn't have to work all that hard to make it happen. Hopefully, in 2012 the MA voters will see through all his surface stuff, and begin to realize that he just stands for policies that will hurt them in the end. Maybe Elizabeth Warren is the RIGHT Democratic candidate who can help the voters see that more clearly in 2012.

[HuskerRed]

06:23 PM on 07/18/2011

Elizabeth for President 2016 (if not sooner).!

[kirazmazzone]

02:55 PM on 07/19/2011

I'll second that.

[Cupik]

06:17 PM on 07/18/2011

I'd sign that petition in a heartbeat.

[Ben Winslow]

06:07 PM on 07/18/2011

We're all in on this.

[Mr Universe]

06:05 PM on 07/18/2011

I signed it. Go Elizabeth!