The D.C.-based political news website reported Tuesday that Warren is building on her risky decision to forgo high-dollar fund-raisers, which has so far paid off with the news this week that she raised $19.1 million in the second quarter. Warren has resisted hiring the expensive outside firms that create television ads, give advice, and conduct polls. Instead, she is relying on a huge staff of 300 for many of these tasks.

As she runs for president, Senator Elizabeth Warren is breaking away from a long-established campaign playbook that powers an influential and profitable consultant industry in Washington, according to a profile in Politico .


Here’s what we learned from the story about Warren’s campaign:

■ Campaigns often contract with outside firms to poll voters on their views of the candidate, test a new message or idea, and create advertising. Warren has not hired a polling company, and her staff is internally producing digital media and advertising with a team of 15 staffers, in addition to buying digital ad space.

■ Warren aides told Politico that the strategy has let the campaign respond rapidly to the 24-hour news cycle, including when it released one of her policy proposals, complete with a suite of digital content and ads, within three days of Alabama passing its restrictive abortion bill.

■ Critics told the news site that a presidential campaign is not the place to forgo well-established expertise from consultants who have often run past successful campaigns. “Quality has cost. I’d rather have Jim Margolis [who is working for Kamala Harris] on my side and pay some fees than ‘Larry’ in a cubicle in-house who is learning media buying,” one GOP strategist told Politico.

■ It’s also another big risk: Should her fund-raising slow down, Warren could struggle to maintain such a large staff even as the first critical contests in places like New Hampshire and Iowa draw closer.


■ A top Warren staffer said the decision is in line with her views on money in politics and shows that she is “willing to question existing power structures.”

Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano.