Posted on 03/15/2012 8:24:43 AM PDT by raccoonradio
The White House loves her. Cher loves her. But a lot of Democrats aren’t so wild about Elizabeth Warren’s Senate campaign these days.
The high-powered, fast-running Warren campaign is starting to show some cracks and dings — fueling fresh scuttlebutt of internal dissent in the party.
Sources say some national Democratic officials and unions are unhappy with Warren agreeing to a pact with Republican Scott Brown that could severely limit super PACs and third-party groups from running attack ads.
Brown’s shrewd move to push the pledge comes as a number of polls show his popularity back on the rise in Massachusetts after it had slipped following a series of special-interest-group attack ads.
The pact has allowed Brown to distance himself from the national GOP and look bipartisan by working with Warren. Some Democrats now believe, probably correctly, that the Warren campaign got suckered into allowing Brown to insulate himself against future attacks.
“The national people hate the Boston people,” one Democratic insider said.
Another source said local Democrats are miffed at the insular attitude of the campaign, which is being run by strategist Doug Rubin, the architect of Gov. Deval Patrick’s successful campaigns.
“Doug Rubin won’t call anybody back,” another Democratic consultant said. “People (local Democrats) feel they’re totally cut off from the campaign.”
This is not exactly a new complaint in Democratic campaigns, where every party power broker wants to feel included. But six months before the primary is pretty early for even Democrats to start eating their own.
Rubin responded to the Herald with an email defending the campaign’s decisions.
“Elizabeth wanted an enforceable agreement keeping out third party ads because she believes it is the right thing to do,” Rubin said. “She is committed to running a strong, grassroots campaign ...”
The problem is that Warren’s grassroots campaign hasn’t grown much since she entered the race, raised tons of money and essentially wiped out the rest of the Democratic field. While Warren has held lots of low-key events in safe Democratic enclaves such as Jamaica Plain, she hasn’t yet given any major speeches or announced any eye-catching initiatives.
In fact, some Democrats say Warren should be focusing more on raising her profile than raising money. Recent polls show a third of Bay State voters still haven’t heard of her, while only a little more than a third of voters have a favorable impression of her.
Brown, in contrast, has been showing his face everywhere and became the first candidate to enforce the outside influence agreement, which requires a candidate to make a donation to charity to offset third-party spending on the campaign. Brown donated $1,000 in campaign money to an autism group after a little-known group ran a paltry Google ad against Warren — a net positive for his image.
My advice to Warren: Don’t listen to the complaints, but do something bold to set yourself apart from the party establishment in Washington. This is what Brown is doing and it’s why he won’t be easy to beat in November.
It’s amazing how easily a poorly staffed campaign (meaning infighting, incompetence, and egos) can ruin the chances of a candidate winning. Glad it’s with the Dems . . . let’s keep it on their side!
Well, that's easy enough to solve. Just insist that Brown abide by the pact and do whatever you damn well please. Isn't that how Obamaoists operate?
The Dem cracks may be showing early but the Dem crackheads have long been around.
While Warren is the antithesis of Jeremy Lin, I wonder if anyone would have been fired had the headline read: “Chinks Evident in Warren Campaign Armor.”
“wth...a commie paper (son of nyt,no less) actually criticizing a Kennedy liberal in MA”
The Boston Globe is owned by NYT, not the Boston Herald.
Thanks raccoonradio.
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