Netroots go gaga for Elizabeth Warren

PROVIDENCE—This year’s Netroots Nation convention attracted a broad array of Democratic talent but one figure stood above all others: Elizabeth Warren, the party’s nominee against Massachusetts GOP Sen. Scott Brown.

It’s hard to overstate Warren’s popularity among progressives. A keynote panel that featured her drew an enormous crowd, festooned with Elizabeth Warren buttons. At a reception she was accorded rock star status, with bloggers and activists queuing up to have their photos taken with her. One panel was even dedicated to Massachusetts politics and her race.

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas explained that of all the House and Senate elections this year, her race was the number one priority among progressives.

“Nobody else even comes close,” he said. “We put her up with [Sens.] Franken, Merkley, Boxer, Brown, the two Vermont senators – the solid core of progressives.”

That support on the left helps explain how a first-time candidate has raised more than $15 million in individual contributions, including more than $5.1 million through ActBlue, the online Democratic fundraising clearinghouse.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, himself a Netroots favorite, framed Warren’s appeal this way.

“She understands whose side she’s on, and the side she’s on is the middle class and working families and kids that want opportunity when they come out of the Army and come out of school,” he said. “That’s not just the winning message in Massachusetts and Ohio, it’s also the way we should govern. And that is, whose side are you on? Are you really on the side of fighting for the middle class?”

POLITICO's Alexander Trowbridge captures some of the sentiment surrounding Warren in the above video.