Warren's Show of Force and the Massachusetts Woman Question
It's been clear for some time that Elizabeth Warren would be the Democratic Senate nominee in Massachusetts. What has been in doubt of late is whether she would end up as one more under-performing woman in Massachusetts politics.
The state has a poor record when it comes to female officeholders. It has never elected a woman governor or senator, and it has elected only four women to the House since 1925. To be fair, Massachusetts has also had some less than stellar female politicians, among them former acting governor Jane Swift and failed 2010 Senate candidate Martha Coakley.
Warren has been a public figure for years, but her inept handling of questions about her heritage underscored her status as a novice when it comes to running for office. She clearly did not expect publicly available information about her Native American roots to come up in her tight-as-a-tick race against GOP Sen. Scott Brown, nor did she anticipate a need to supply documentation for the claim. This in an era when even President Obama's long-form birth certificate issued by the state of Hawaii is not enough to convince some people (we're talking to you, Donald) that he was born in America.
But Warren's performance at the state convention this weekend must have reassured state and national Democrats terrified of losing control of the Senate. She did what a good pol should do - court the 3,500 delegates and give a fiery convention speech - and took it a big step further.
The state has a poor record when it comes to female officeholders. It has never elected a woman governor or senator, and it has elected only four women to the House since 1925. To be fair, Massachusetts has also had some less than stellar female politicians, among them former acting governor Jane Swift and failed 2010 Senate candidate Martha Coakley.
Warren has been a public figure for years, but her inept handling of questions about her heritage underscored her status as a novice when it comes to running for office. She clearly did not expect publicly available information about her Native American roots to come up in her tight-as-a-tick race against GOP Sen. Scott Brown, nor did she anticipate a need to supply documentation for the claim. This in an era when even President Obama's long-form birth certificate issued by the state of Hawaii is not enough to convince some people (we're talking to you, Donald) that he was born in America.
But Warren's performance at the state convention this weekend must have reassured state and national Democrats terrified of losing control of the Senate. She did what a good pol should do - court the 3,500 delegates and give a fiery convention speech - and took it a big step further.
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