Sen. Elizabeth Warren disavows 2016 presidential draft effort
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., doesn't know what else she can do to convince you people she's not running for president.
A darling of liberal activists, Warren has said repeatedly she won't seek the White House in 2016, but her supporters have been undeterred, setting up a Ready for Warren super PAC to raise money and encouraging the senator to mount a bid.
On Friday, though, Warren took the unusual step of having an attorney send a letter to the Federal Election Commission disavowing any involvement in the grassroots effort to draft her into the 2016 race.
"This letter serves as a formal disavowal of the organization and its activity," Warren's attorney, Marc E. Elias, wrote to the FEC, according to the Boston Globe. "The senator has not, and does not, explicitly or implicitly, authorize, endorse, or otherwise approve of the organization's activities."
To dispel any lingering doubt, Elias added, "To the contrary, Senator Warren has publicly announced that she is not running for president in 2016." He encouraged supporters to concentrate their energy and donations on 2014 Senate races instead of tilting at windmills.
One of the group's organizers, Erica Sagrans, told the Globe that she and her colleagues plan to continue their effort.
"She is not officially associated with us, and we're an independent organization, and she has already said that," Sagrans said. "We're continuing our work."
The group, which has not released any fundraising tallies, hopes to emulate the runaway success of the Ready for Hillary super PAC dedicated to a potential Hillary Clinton candidacy. That effort collected $2.5 million between April and June this year, bringing its total cash on hand to $8.2 million.
Though Warren has said she's not running, it's clear she'll have a passionate base of support if she does. Her speech at the Netroots Nation conference last month lit up the progressive activists in the audience, who chanted, "Run, Liz, Run," before she began speaking.
And aside from Vice President Joe Biden, Warren is the only Democrat who registers more than a blip in early 2016 primary polls, though Clinton continues to dominate the field.