WASHINGTON (AP) – Elizabeth Warren enters the final stretch before Saturday’s Nevada Democratic caucus with a new and enviable but nonetheless critical mission: capitalizing on a standout performance during Wednesday’s presidential debate.
The Massachusetts senator took a leading role in blasting rival Mike Bloomberg over his previous comments about women, his past support of policing programs that disproportionately targeted minorities and for deploying his vast personal wealth to, as she characterized it, buy the White House. Warren also hit fellow progressive and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar over health care, and had multiple, stinging criticisms for former Vice President Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Those takedowns prompted a fundraising surge for Warren and revived interest in a campaign that has been flagging since disappointing finishes earlier this month in Iowa and New Hampshire. She finally displayed a sense of political urgency upon which her campaign may now depend – the trick will be to keep it going.
“The debate performance that she had last night will certainly help restore confidence in a lot of folks who may have been listening to the punditry, and now they will fall in love with her all over again,” said Wendy Brawley, a South Carolina state representative who has endorsed Warren.
The Associated Press / Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, left, makes a point to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts in their Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas Wednesday night.But for all that energy, it’s still not clear where Warren might actually win. A sprawling political infrastructure didn’t help her in Iowa, nor did New Hampshire’s being basically in her political backyard. She is not favored in Nevada, where nearly 75,000 people participated in early voting and missed her strong debate performance.