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 But the Democrat they are working for, U.S. Senator Elizabeth
Warren of Massachusetts, adamantly denies plans to seek the
presidency.
Backed with $1.25 million from liberal advocacy groups MoveOn.org
and Democracy for America, the "Run Warren Run" group has opened
offices in New Hampshire and Iowa, hoping she will jump in and
contending Warren's message of populist economics could propel her
into the White House in 2016.
This core of supporters believe Warren could beat presumed party
frontrunner and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who is
expected to formally launch her campaign in coming months and who
holds a huge lead over other possible Democratic candidates in
opinion polls.
Even outside the Warren camp, some other Democrats says a challenger
to Clinton could help the party's chances by ensuring she entered
the general election campaign well-prepared, and by focusing
attention on economic issues that matter to middle and lower income
Americans, such as promoting a higher minimum wage and student loan
reform.
MoveOn.org, which wants to see Warren in the race and her ideas
heard, is a political powerhouse with a grass-roots organization
that helped elect and re-elect President Barack Obama, including his
long and hard-fought battle with Clinton for the Democratic
nomination in 2008. Democracy for America has its own strong
pedigree, dating back to Vermont Democrat Howard Dean's 2004
presidential run.
"We believe that she would be the strongest candidate in the general
election," said Kurt Ehrenberg, a veteran political operative who is
heading up the Run Warren Run operation in New Hampshire. "Our job
is not only to convince Senator Warren to get into the race, it's to
focus the race on these issues."
At Run Warren Run's Manchester office, Ehrenberg and three young
staffers were busy organizing volunteers to hit the streets of four
New Hampshire cities this weekend to spread the Warren message.
"The plan is for us to build a campaign, to show Senator Warren that
if she does decide to get into the race, there is a ready-made
structure here in New Hampshire and Iowa," Ehrenberg said. "We're
going to build an organization that is ready to go it she decides to
run for president."
Despite 300,000 signatures on a petition urging Warren, 65, to run,
that is still a big if. "As Senator Warren has said many times, she
is not running for president and doesn't support these draft
campaigns," Warren's spokeswoman, Lacey Rose, said in an e-mail.
SHAKING UP THE PRIMARY RACE
Warren's progressive views would make her chances of defeating a
moderate Republican for the White House unlikely, but her appeal to
the liberal flank of the Democratic Party is rooted in dogged
opposition to perceived Wall Street excesses.
She grew up on what she has called the "ragged edge of the middle
class," and as a Harvard law professor was among the first to warn
of the looming sub-prime mortgage crisis that triggered the
financial crisis of 2008.
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She was a key architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
set up after the crisis and since winning a Senate seat in 2012 has
been a strong voice on financial issues, including helping block a
former Lazard banker from winning a top job at the Treasury
Department.
Publicly, Democratic strategists in Washington back Clinton's White
House bid and say it is unlikely another viable candidate will
emerge unless she decides not to run. Privately, many of the same
people say they would like to see a more progressive candidate enter
the race, if only to push the conversation to the left during the
primary contests.
Clinton's potentially smooth path to the nomination stands in sharp
contrast to the crowded Republican field, where about a dozen
candidates are at various stages of exploring runs.
The Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary will take place early
next year, kicking off a series of primary contests that culminate
in each party picking its candidate to run in the November election.
"Candidates don't like primaries, but primaries traditionally will
make candidates stronger for the general election," said Neil
Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of
Politics. "While all the Republicans are fighting amongst
themselves, they're all having a chance to get on TV for a year.
When there's only one candidate, it's more difficult to do that."
Clinton has a commanding lead among Democrats who are likely to vote
in the New Hampshire primary, with 58 percent saying she would be
their choice if the primary was held today, according to a
University of New Hampshire/WMUR poll released last week.
Warren ran second, with the support of 14 percent of 297 likely
voters polled Jan. 22-Feb. 3, leading third-placed Vice President
Joe Biden. The poll had a 5.7 percent margin of error.
But a poll commissioned by Run Warren Run found that 98 percent of
likely Democratic voters in New Hampshire and Iowa wanted a
competitive race. Some 79 percent of 800 respondents polled Jan. 30
through Feb. 5 said they would like to see Warren run, though that
did not mean they would vote for her.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by
Frances Kerry)
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