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BY: MIKKEL NOEL LANZKY


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Longtime consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren is running for U.S. Senate. The Harvard Law professor’s Wednesday announcement garnered a lot of talk among political observers and analysts.


CNN political contributor Hilary Rosen is a fan -- and says she’ll be watching this one closely.

“Here you have somebody, who’s sort of the anti-politician in Elizabeth Warren. Really just a phenomenal consumer advocate. A professor perceived to be kind of the nice lady truth teller, who really is smart and accomplished and almost single-handedly brought some of the Wall Street reforms to Washington to encourage them to be enacted.”

But as The Wall Street Journal’s Nathan Koppel reports -- Warren can be controversial.

“She is beloved by consumer-rights advocates for being a fierce critic of the financial industry, but her bid to run the consumer bureau, created as part of last year’s Dodd-Frank financial overhaul, was opposed by the banking industry and Senate Republicans.”

While it’s Warren’s first time running for office, she has qualities that may offset the lack of legislative experience usually seen in Senatorial candidates. As Politico’s David Catanese notes:

“Warren ... joins a crowded field of Democrats who have already [been] in the race for several months. But Warren is seen to bring formidable advantages to the endeavor, including a loyal national following by liberal groups and sizable fundraising capacity.”

Warren gained national notoriety when she championed regulations for the financial sector and was a central figure in creating the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Alex Wagner, reporter for the Huffington Post and MSNBC analyst explains:

“Elizabeth Warren, as you said before, has no shortage of detractors, but there are a lot of people, I think, and as the Bostonian and Massachusetts residents come to get to better know her, who understand what she is doing. And I think, she has not minced words. She is someone that absolutely sees herself as an advocate for the working- and the middle class.”

In a poll by Boston NPR sister station WBUR conducted last week – well before she officially announced her campaign – Warren was viewed more favorably and did better against incumbent Republican Scott Brown than other Democratic candidates.

“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.”

So can Warren beat the Republican who won in a special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy? According to The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, that hinges entirely on how her candidacy is seen by Massachusetts voters:

“Is she a reflexive liberal with positions out of step with the many Democratic but conservative minded voters in the Bay State? Or is she a populist firebrand, fighting for the average working family in Massachusetts? On one side is (potential) victory. On the other near-certain defeat.”



Transcript by Newsy. 

Politics News: Elizabeth Warren Senate

Elizabeth Warren to Run for U.S. Senate

September 14, 2011
(2:48)
Elizabeth Warren is running for the US Senate and looking to oust Scott Brown in Massachusetts.
   
TRANSCRIPT

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