Fabulous, but still not running for president.
Now is the time to talk about the Democratic presidential primary as it is, without all the what ifs.
Well, it's been that time for a while, but we now have three candidates—Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley—and the organizers of the "Run Warren Run" campaign have admitted what we at Daily Kos have long pointed out: Elizabeth Warren is not running for president. Instead of continuing to push her to do that, MoveOn and Democracy for America say they'll pivot to supporting Warren on the issues:
The group — which has been getting less and less attention as actual candidates enter the race and jockey for Warren supporters — will shift its focus to supporting the senator’s legislative work that effectively pressures the front-runner Clinton from the left, starting with opposition to fast-track trade deals.
“We still think there’s plenty of time for Sen. Warren to change her mind,” said DFA executive director Charles Chamberlain. “But now that we’ve shown that she has the support she would need to mount a winning campaign, we’re excited to take the grassroots juggernaut we’ve built with our members and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Warren in the battles ahead.”
(Don't be distracted. There isn't plenty of time for her to change her mind, and she isn't going to.)
Democratic primary voters have a clear choice of three candidates, and Warren is falling out of polling averages as her name stops being included in surveys, so we can see more clearly where the real-life race stands. The actual in-the-race candidates are out there making their case to voters, and we as voters get to decide. Warren remains a powerful voice in Democratic politics, and to the extent that non-candidate politicians will take a bit of a back seat in the months to come, Bernie Sanders will not be shying away from progressive economic policies on the campaign trail—and reporters are even starting to notice that his campaign exists. A significant chunk of the progressive infrastructure is turning its attention away from something that isn't going to happen. This is all good news. Let's go out and make the most of it in policy and politics alike.