With the next presidential election a mere 1,036 days away, politicians, public thinkers, and media pundits have begun speculating on who will enter the ring to replace the god complex currently residing in the Oval Office.
According to former DNC head Ed Rendell, the only Dem who would “win overwhelmingly” against Trump is former VEEP and Obama pal Joe Biden. According to fellow former DNC Chair Howard Dean, Biden is too damn old and it's time for youngsters like California Sen. Kamala Harris, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, or LA Mayor Eric Garcetti to take the party's reins. And, according to a new report in POLITICO, Massachusetts Senator and Trump nemesis Elizabeth Warren looks primed for a run herself.
Warren, POLITICO's Gabriel Debnedetti notes, has not only amassed a $12.8 million campaign warchest—more than almost any sitting senator in modern history—she's been grooming relationships across the aisle, working on her foreign policy cred, and wrote a best-selling book that she toured across the country, connecting with voters. Perhaps most valuable in the social media era, she's also become a meme after refusing to back down on the Senate floor during Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearings, and now embodies the #Resistance slogan "Nevertheless, she persisted."
More from POLITICO:
Warren has worked to thaw her relations with local reporters after years of offering them little access, a shift that could help her prepare for the rough-and-tumble media treatment of a presidential campaign. And she has hired a staff heavy on digital talent and researchers — a line of mobilization and defense that could come in handy for both 2018 and 2020.
Increasingly the target of ire from Trump himself as he eyes his own reelection bid, Warren has started punching back on television and online when the president refers to her as “Pocahontas,” a derisive nickname referring to her claiming Cherokee heritage to law school administrators in the mid-1980s.
And while Warren's cooperation with Senate Republicans this year isn't likely to transform her reputation as one of the most liberal members of Congress, it has been a striking change of pace.
She worked with Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley on legislation to improve access to hearing aids, and with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski on opioid funding, earning unexpected praise from conservative colleagues. Plus, as a new member of the Armed Services Committee, Warren took a Fourth of July trip to Afghanistan with Arizona Sen. John McCain and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Personally, I can't think of a better candidate to take on Trump. Warren is already a household name, she's both populist and leftist enough to motivate the youth vote, she has none of the baggage of Hillary Clinton, and—most importantly—I predicted her win in July 2016, so a Warren victory would be huge for my budding fortune-telling business. GO LIZ, GO.
