Warren campaign hits nadir
BOSTON: Senator Elizabeth Warren, who last summer rose to the top of polls in several presidential primary states, on Tuesday reached the nadir of her bid for the White House: a third-place finish in her home state, Massachusetts.
Ms Warren lost after liberal voters split sharply between her and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who flew into the state last weekend to campaign in hopes of dealing her a powerful setback. But instead it was former Vice President Joe Biden who came in first place in Massachusetts, winning voters over 50, moderates, black voters and even some liberals.
The result represented her worst-case scenario. Ms Warren had already finished in third place or worse in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. That left her on the sidelines after Mr Sanders and Mr Biden picked up momentum and dominated the 16 Super Tuesday contests and delegaterich states such as California and Texas.
Ms Warren competed for months against Mr Sanders to be the progressive standard-bearer in the race, but on Super Tuesday she did not win any contests.
“It’s clear Massachusetts voters want Biden to face Trump because there’s nothing more important than beating him,” said Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist based in Boston.
“They saw the fight in Biden in South Carolina, and that convinced them he could do it. Warren is known as a fighter in Massachusetts, but she needs to demonstrate it in this campaign with a win or delegates like Biden managed, and that has yet to happen.”