Elizabeth Warren won’t be president. But the Senate may not be her final destination. [View all]

[Playinghardball]

Even the Draft Warren folks now accept it: Warren won't run. But she may have a new job come 2017 anyway

Several months ago, supporters of an Elizabeth Warren presidential candidacy detected some glimmers of hope in their bid to convince the Massachusetts senator and liberal favorite to take her fiery brand of progressive populism to the national stage. Though Warren insisted she wasn’t seeking the nation’s top job, political grammarians couldn’t help noticing that Warren spoke only in the present tense. Sure, Warren may not have been “running for president” in October 2014, but who knew what mid-2015 held in store? While Warren was remarkably disciplined in sticking to her pat “I’m not running for president” response, she even spoke, rather cryptically, of “amazing doors that could open” down the road. Moreover, Warren’s pre-midterm campaign swing — notably including stops in Iowa and New Hampshire — stoked speculation that it was the prelude to something larger.

But it was not to be. Even as organizers of the Draft Warren campaign raised funds and set up shop in early primary states, Warren herself never took any serious steps toward mounting a presidential run; she did not set up anything resembling a national campaign infrastructure, nor did she make any additional forays into early-voting states. In recent months, she became more emphatic in spurning entreaties to enter the race, even going so far as to couch her answers in the future tense. On Tuesday, the Draft Warren folks conceded to reality, with the campaign’s leaders announcing that they would end their efforts next week, after they delivered one last plea.

For some of Warren’s most ardent fans, this turn of events isn’t quite as unwelcome as you might think. To be sure, many progressive activists dissatisfied with Hillary Clinton saw Warren as their only viable hope of dislodging the Democratic frontrunner. But amid the Draft Warren push, many of the senator’s devotees maintained that she was right where she belonged — holding bankers’ feet to the fire, sounding the alarm about soaring income inequality, and holding presidents from her own party to account from her perch in Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat. Much like the late liberal lion, who represented the Bay State for 47 years, Warren could demonstrate that you don’t need to be president to prove an effective agent for progressive change.

More here: http://www.salon.com/2015/06/02/elizabeth_warren_wont_be_president_but_the_senate_may_not_be_her_final_destination/