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Join NowRun Warren Run news, Dec. 22
This is one in a series of semi-regular updates on our Run Warren Run effort and Senator Warren’s work to give all Americans a fighting chance.
In recent days, we’ve released a video from our energizing grassroots kick-off in Iowa, saw continued strong national coverage, and opened job postings for key roles on the campaign. We are set to take a pause in our public-facing campaigning this holiday week and are planning for a New Hampshire launch in January.
ENERGY BUILDS FROM DES MOINES LAUNCH EVENT: The New York Times’ Jonathan Martin covers the Iowa launch of Run Warren Run. Here’s Ilya Sheyman, MoveOn.org Political Action’s executive director, speaking to the crowd of supporters at Java Joe’s in Des Moines: “What we’ve heard loud and clear is that Iowans want a contested caucus, Iowans want candidates and issues to be debated and tested and discussed and Iowans want the strongest possible candidate.”
NEW VIDEO FROM RUN WARREN RUN IOWA LAUNCH: Don’t miss this behind-the-scenes video from our Des Moines, Iowa launch event: http://youtu.be/
‘WALL STREET BRACES FOR WARREN RUN’ – On the heels of Elizabeth Warren’s fight against changes to Wall Street reform in the CRomnibus, Kevin Cirilli in The Hill looks at Warren’s record of fighting for the American people over big banks—and what it could mean for a Warren presidential bid. “Big banks are unnerved by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) rise in Democratic circles, which is raising the prospect of her running for the White House. … Equally jarring to Wall Street is the possibility that Warren could force Clinton to the left to appease progressives. Income equality has emerged as the number one issue on the left, and it is seen as a touchstone issue for Warren.”
“The banking industry shouldn’t be ‘unnerved’ by the prospect of a President Elizabeth Warren, they should be terrified by it and the Americans who would cheer her on as she ripped their moneyed fangs out of the political process,” said Democracy for America spokesman T. Neil Sroka.
PROTESTERS GATHER OUTSIDE CITIGROUP. After Sen. Warren led the fight against changes to Wall Street reform as part of the government spending bill, dozens of activists stood in support of Warren outside Citigroup’s headquarters late last week. Bloomberg’s Max Abelson has more: “If I had a Warren, I’d end too big to fail,” a circle of protesters sang to the tune of Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer.” “I’d strengthen Volcker, bring back Glass-Steagall too! Use those laws to help my brothers and sisters all over this land.”
CNN’s Ben Rooney reports: “‘We need to break up the big banks that have too much power in our democracy,’ said TJ Helmstetter, one of the protest organizers. ‘They literally wrote the law and Washington let them do it.’ … The group of about 20 protesters also took aim at President Obama’s nomination of Antonio Weiss, an investment banker, to a key Treasury Department post. Warren has been a vocal opponent of Weiss’s nomination for the position that oversees domestic banks and financial regulations.”
“I believe banks have too much concentrated power in our democracy and we want it back,” said Emmett Grant, a 52 year-old from Mount Vernon, NY.
PROMINENT DEMOCRATIC DIGITAL FIRM JOINS RUN WARREN RUN CAMPAIGN. POLITICO’s Darren Samuelsohn delves into the desire from some leading tech firms that helped elect Barack Obama to join the movement to draft Elizabeth Warren. Revolution Messaging, “a digital strategy firm founded by Obama 2008 external online director Scott Goodstein,” joined MoveOn’s Run Warren Run campaign, bringing tested digital expertise to the effort to encourage Warren to enter the presidential race. “At RootsCamp, an annual fair for progressive digital types held earlier this month in Washington, Revolution was working for another long-time client, MoveOn.org. The liberal group recently announced plans to spend $1 million urging Warren to run for president, and Arun Chaudhary, a Revolution staffer and former Obama White House videographer, was busy filming one of the group’s leaders during a well-attended ‘Draft Warren’ panel discussion that included activists from the Howard Dean-backed Democracy for America and the Ready for Warren campaign.”
“I think there is absolutely an implication in that, that if [Warren] were to run, a lot of these people would be willing to use their talents and their networks and she’d be able to build a really quality team with a lot of veterans of the Obama campaigns,” Christopher Hass told Samuelsohn.
ICYMI: ELLISON JOINS CALLS FOR WARREN TO RUN. Rep. Keith Ellison joined a Democracy for America call late last week and encouraged Elizabeth Warren to join the presidential race. “I think Elizabeth Warren is one of the great, bright lights of our time,” Ellison said.
The Hill’s Peter Sullivan: Top liberal lawmaker: Warren should run
MSNBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald: Keith Ellison: ‘I would love to see Elizabeth Warren’ run
MORE COVERAGE OF THE RUN WARREN RUN CAMPAIGN:
Jessica Meyers in the Boston Globe: “Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Clinton, said the two women have long fought for the same ideals. Asked about the impact of Warren’s rise on a potential Clinton bid, he said via e-mail, ‘We need more people like Elizabeth Warren and those she inspires fighting for them.’”
Leigh Ann Caldwell for NBC News looks at the competing influence of grassroots activists and wealthy donors in the presidential race: “The problem is that major disagreement exists between the moneyed class that is critical to give a candidate the resources needed for a national campaign and the activists that are more far more numerous and active in each party’s primary process. And it’s a bridge that candidates are going to have to work hard to close.”
And in Iowa—where the “dust has barely settled” from the midterms but the 2016 presidential race is already front and center—Fox News’ Lauren Blanchard talks with party leaders: “‘The excitement just generates itself. We’ll have candidates from both parties to campaign here in Iowa and there’s a lot of voter interest in meeting these folks,” [Polk County Democrats Chair Tom] Henderson said. “We’re really excited about getting the process started.’ … The “Run Warren Run” campaign will hold events all over the country to build a base of supporters should Warren decide to toss her hat in the ring. Iowa was chosen as the location for the kick-off rally because of the role the state plays, said Nick Berning, communications director for MoveOn. According to Berning, the MoveOn campaign has been hiring staff and opening offices around Iowa. On the same day as the rally, they ran a full-page ad in the Des Moines Register with names of Iowa supporters who stand behind Warren and have circulated a petition asking her to run. “We want to build an operation that she could tap into if she wants to run,” Berning said.”