Run Warren Run Gets a Reboot

The week seemed to begin with a surrender. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has shown formidable talent at winning press and a fitful record of winning elections, announced a campaign called "Ready for Boldness." Led by former Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, Iowa's lone Democratic congressman, and a swarm of county party leaders and former leaders in the first two primary states, the Ready for Boldness pledge called on "the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee" to commit to "a national goal of debt-free college at all public colleges and universities, expanding Social Security benefits instead of cutting them, creating millions of clean-energy jobs, reducing big-money influence in politics," and "breaking up the 'too big to fail' Wall Street banks."

The Financial Times, not alone in its assessment, read this as "the progressive wing of the Democratic Party" moving past its campaign to draft first-term Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren into a presidential race, "shifting tack" to something achievable. Warren did not sign the letter; PCCC spokesman TJ Helmstetter says this is because the letter focused only on politicos from Iowa and New Hampshire. (Hilariously, a "long-term Clinton adviser" got anonymity to assure the FT that Clinton had indeed been "talking about inequality for years.")