World News Korner

Elizabeth Warren may be the political kingmaker that Sarah Palin could never hope to be.

Courtesy of Mother Jones:

Warren has already raised $1.2 million this election season for 22 Senate candidates, including Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), according to Warren's political operation. That's a lot of dough. "Most members of Congress are not capable of raising that much for their colleagues…She's a rock star," says Viveca Novak, the editorial director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money on politics. And in late March, the Massachusetts senator expanded her 2014 efforts even further, joining up with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a liberal PAC, to endorse two lucky Senate candidates: Rick Weiland, who is running to replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, and Rep. Bruce Braley, who is vying to take the place of retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Landing a Warren endorsement is great news for candidates without a lot of name recognition at the national level, says John Halpin, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress. Weiland, the South Dakota candidate, says Warren's endorsement has been "extremely helpful" so far, adding that after Warren and the PCCC sent out their fundraising pitch, "there was quite a spike [in donations] in the first couple of days." (The Weiland campaign does not yet have final fundraising numbers for the initial Warren-PCCC push.)

Officials with the Braley campaign say the same thing. The campaign couldn't give out fundraising details, but an Iowa Democrat familiar with Braley's campaign says, "Let me put it this way. There's a reason why the [Warren] endorsement was rolled out before the March 31 fundraising deadline."

Warren's office says that the senator is spending so much time fundraising for her colleagues "because she believes it is critical for Democrats to maintain control of the Senate." But the back-scratching is good for Warren's political future, too—whether or not she ever runs for president. "I see mixed motives that are not incompatible," says Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University. "The hero's wings she wins for campaigning for congressional progressives can be pinned on again in a future presidential effort. It is a win-win for her."

Warren's involvement could also help Democrats running in 2014 by raising party enthusiasm, Baker says. "You get a real progressive hero like Elizabeth Warren involved and she can basically amp up the motivation of the party, and people on the left," he argues.

I don't usually like to compare the amazing Elizabeth Warren to the has been Sarah Palin in any way, but I thought this was another example of somebody having the kind of gravitas that Palin claims to have.

Another thing worth pointing out is that only is Warren the Democratic rain maker right now, she is also somebody who would certainly NOT string supporters along with false promises of a potential presidential run. Like SOME people we could mention.

In fact she has already taken her name out of consideration for 2016. Mostly in deference to Hillary I am sure.

However there is still a part of me that would really love to see that Clinton/Warren bumper sticker. Because DAMN that would be a powerful combination!

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