Report: Elizabeth Warren for president in 2016?

Susan Davis | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Could Sen. Elizabeth Warren run for president in 2016?

The New Republic makes the case for the liberal Massachusetts Democrat as a potential rival to presumed front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton in their latest cover story.

Casting her as "the probable face of the insurgency," TNR makes the case for Warren as a populist candidate up against Clinton who is perceived as more friendly to Wall Street.

Warren is popular among the Democratic Party's progressive base, and she has proved to be a capable fundraiser after amassing a $42 million war chest in her Senate campaign.

"There's very much a wait-and-see approach to Hillary among progressives," Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told TNR. "I think it's mutually exclusive to be a real hero for reform and accountability and to have a [fund-raising] strategy that relies on Wall Street."

While it's unclear that Warren would get into a presidential primary if Clinton decides to run, she could be even more formidable if Clinton opts out and the field is wide open.

Warren declined to speculate to TNR about 2016. "You've asked me about the politics. All I can do is take you back to the principle part of this," she said. "I know what I am in Washington to do: I'm here to fight for hardworking families."