|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Primary rival may distract Elizabeth Warren
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Race
|
| Contributor | CincinnatiReds1990 |
| Last Edited | CincinnatiReds1990 May 27, 2012 01:01pm |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | News |
| Author | Frank Phillips |
| News Date | Sunday, May 27, 2012 07:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Massachusetts Democrats will head to a state convention next weekend amid increasing fears among party leaders that Elizabeth Warren will be bogged down in a primary fight that will block her from fully engaging US Senator Scott Brown.
Warren, whose campaign has ignited unprecedented enthusiasm in her party in Massachusetts and has drawn strong support from national Democrats, is expected to easily win endorsement from the more than 3,000 delegates who will gather June 2 in Springfield.
But Warren’s advisers and some seasoned political hands say she will have a difficult time blocking Marisa DeFranco, a North Shore immigration lawyer, from getting the 15 percent of delegate votes she needs to qualify for the primary ballot. Since the 15-percent requirement was put in place in 1982, no leading Democratic candidate has eliminated an opponent by getting more than 85 percent of the delegate vote at a convention.
That has some state Democrats alarmed that Warren will be forced to divert her resources until after the Sept. 6 primary, instead of concentrating on Brown. Likewise, party leaders say the Democrats will no longer be able to use the convention to spotlight Warren’s candidacy.
The risk to the national party is extremely high, they say, given that the outcome of this race could help determine control of the Senate.
“It’s a suicidal exercise,’’ said former state party chairman Philip W. Johnston, a decades-long veteran of statewide races, who now raises funds for Warren. “We need to be focused on one person, Scott Brown. It’s ridiculous to force [Warren] to spend a couple of months being distracted, particularly when the control of the Senate could turn on this campaign.
But he and others say they also feel that any effort to strong-arm delegates could result in a backlash, particularly from the left wing of the party, which often bristles at heavy-handed direction from party leadership.
DeFranco, whose feisty style an |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
