The profile paints Warren as something of a seat-of-the-pants politician. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Report fuels Warren 2016 prospects

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), described by progressives and Washington insiders as the person best situated to challenge Hillary Clinton from within her own party, may not let the uphill nature of such a contest keep her from running, according to a new report.

A lengthy Warren profile by Noam Scheiber, a senior editor at The New Republic, leans into the prospect that the ambitious newly-minted senator might not be deterred by the repeated refrain, “But you’ll lose if you run.” The story paints Warren – whose image management is matched by her populist conviction – as Clinton’s “nightmare” scenario, just five years after she was upended by President Barack Obama.


“She has an immense – I can’t put it in words – a sense of destiny,” Scheiber quotes a former Warren aide saying. “If Hillary or the man on the moon is not representing her stuff, and her people don’t have a seat at table, she’ll do what she can to make sure it’s represented.”

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“Yeah, Hillary is running. And she’ll probably win,” the aide added. “But Elizabeth doesn’t care about winning. She doesn’t care whose turn it is.”

Warren was among a large group of Senate Democratic women who wrote a letter to Clinton recently urging the former Secretary of State to run, and she has repeatedly said she will not be a candidate in 2016. Most Democratic insiders have a hard time seeing Warren running against Clinton, who remains the overwhelming favorite, even with some angst from the base.

But that hasn’t stopped wishful pleas from some progressives who’ve never warmed to Clinton, or who don’t like that she’s maintained ties to Wall Street and has given several addresses to major banks as part of her paid speaking circuit.

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Scheiber paints Warren as something of a seat-of-the-pants politician who worries less about toe-stepping than about making her point.

Warren, who was interviewed by Scheiber for the piece, appears to have given no indication of what her thinking is, when press on “what would happen if the likely 2016 nominee is wrong on her issues.”

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“You’ve asked me about the politics,” she told Scheiber. “All I can do is take you back to the principle part of this…I know what I am in Washington to do: I’m here to fight for hard-working families.”