Chabot: Warren gives up playing nice with Sanders

Sen. Elizabeth Warren ratcheted up her attacks on fellow progressive Bernie Sanders ahead of Super Tuesday — blasting the presidential frontrunner as an ineffectual blowhard while her campaign sought to downplay a potential primary loss to him in her own backyard.

“This crisis demands more than a senator who has good ideas but whose 30-year track record shows he constantly calls for things that fail to get done, and consistently opposes things that he nevertheless fails to stop,” said Warren Saturday following a bruising fifth-place finish in the South Carolina primary.

Warren and Sanders have largely avoided attacking each other during the packed 2020 contest, with Warren casting herself as a “uniter,” and saving her sharpest criticisms for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

But Sen. Sanders spent the weekend making a bold play for Warren’s home state, holding packed rallies Friday and Saturday as polls showed him with the slimmest of leads over Warren.

“If we have the largest voter turnout in the history of the Massachusetts primary — we can win here,” Sanders said Saturday.

Warren, who was notably absent over the weekend, has shied away from any promises to win the Bay State.

“I’m out here making my case to everybody all across the nation, and I’m so deeply grateful to the people in my home state who helped me beat an incumbent Republican back in 2012,” Warren told CBS News when they asked if she’ll win her home state.

Massachusetts is one of 14 states where voters can weigh in on the Democratic or Republican nomination on Tuesday. The multistate voting includes delegate-rich contests in California and Texas.

The senior senator — flush with $29.3 million in campaign donations and from the support of the new super PAC Persist — is not out of the 2020 race yet. New strategy details sent out by Warren’s campaign argue she doesn’t need to win any states to nab the Democratic nomination.

“Our internal projections continue to show Elizabeth winning delegates in nearly every state in play on Super Tuesday, and in a strong position to earn a sizable delegate haul coming out of the night,” wrote Warren campaign director Roger Lau Sunday, laying the groundwork for a possible contested convention.

If Sanders fails to win a majority of delegates before the July 13 convention, Warren could try to become the nominee by convincing powerful Democratic super delegates that she’s the best choice.

“The convention in Milwaukee is the final play,” wrote Lau.

Warren will also benefit from a last-minute $9 million ad buy in Massachusetts, California and Texas by the pro-Warren Persist. Persist has spent more than $12 million on advertising in Super Tuesday states.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/39hWr0s