Elizabeth Warren explains how to run a flawless campaign

[crazytown]

Warren attempted to stay above the fray Friday night. “I’m not here to criticize, I’m here to talk about how we build a future,” she said when asked about Biden’s remark earlier in the day about “[t]hat kid wearing a hoodie might be the next poet laureate and not a gang banger."

It's not that hard, is it?

[aikoaiko]

1. I get not piling on the gaffes, but I hope she starts criticizing policies and votes

to help differentiate herself from the other front runners.

There are substantive differences.

[LincolnRossiter]

2. She is, objectively, running a great campaign. Most voters like what they see when they see her.

NT

[elocs]

3. If Warren wins the nomination, then her campaign against Trump will not be flawless

if she plays his game and gets into the mud, mocking, and name calling because nobody is better at Trump's game than he is. You can't respond to his taunts and get defensive because that allows him to dictate and control the conversation, or what passes for a conversation.

[crazytown]

4. The one candidate who went for Warren was John Delaney.

Elizabeth ended his candidacy in 30 seconds.

[DrFunkenstein]

5. Did You See Her Respond to Trump's Plastic Straws & Cheeseburgers

“Oh come on, give me a break,” Warren said with exasperation. “This is exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants us to be talking about. That’s what they want us to talk about: This is your problem.”

Warren continued: “They want stir up a lot of controversy around your light bulbs, around your straws, and around your cheeseburgers, when 70 percent of the carbon that we’re throwing into the air comes from three industries.”

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2019/09/give-me-a-break-elizabeth-warren-just-cut-through-the-dumbest-climate-argument/

Warren is whip smart and extremely disciplined in her message, always keeping an eye on her central populist themes and tying it to her personal biography. She really is running a very, very impressive campaign.

[Drunken Irishman]

6. Yeah that's not going to cut it.

She has to go full-throttle after Trump or he'll kick her teeth in just like he did Hillary. It can't be about dismissing the attack with a cute quip and pivoting back to substance.

If she does, she will lose. You can write that down and we'll revisit this tale but if she focuses solely on the issues, and only minimally on Trump, especially during the debates, she will lose. She will lose because people will tune her out and the only thing they'll hear is Trump's slander. The exact thing you're advocating for was done by Hillary in 2016. She worked to stay above the mud slinging and personal attacks during the debates, pulling back from the rhetoric she used in a lot of her speeches, and what happened is that Trump spent the whole debate calling her nasty, a liar, a crook, parading around the women who accused Bill of sexual misconduct and... that's what people remember. Not her words about child separation, which she predicted, or her words about Russia, but Trump lobbing insult after insult.

Ultimately, Warren is running a decent primary campaign, which is similar to Hillary's in 2016 (Hillary rarely ever went after Bernie) but it proved not to be a great general election campaign because, believe it or not, that vision thing doesn't seem to extend over into non-Democratic Party voters.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. ALL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON TRUMP'S CRIMES

Tax returns?

Subverting the US Constitution, especially separation of powers

Unprecedented changes in AGs and FBI directors to cover crimes

Collusion with ancient enemies of the USA, as Trump shops for election hackers

etc.

[crazytown]

9. "Can you identify when you last took the Wall Street banks to trial"

I'm sure you remember Senator Warren's first Committee hearing.

[Drunken Irishman]

13. That's great - it's not going to work in a debate.

What she did there was no different how Hillary handled the debates with Trump. Hit on policy. That won't cut it. Sorry.

That video is great for a hearing. It's not great for a debate with Trump. I know this because Trump would not be acting like those at the hearing.

[crazytown]

8. RIP John Delaney

If you have seen Senator Warren in Committee, you would know she can be brutal. Two Wells Fargo CEOs have resigned in her wake.

[Drunken Irishman]

12. John Delaney was already DOA.

Her quip was nice but it wasn't brutal.

It's more than just being brutal. It's about hitting him on his personal conduct, calling him out on it, attacking him. I haven't seen that from her yet and I think she gets too lost in the policy debates for that type of debate.

[crazytown]

15. Humiliating bullies is Warren's speciality.

We will see, because she is going to be the one up against trump in debates. I grow more certain of that every week.

[Drunken Irishman]

18. I don't work in absolutes.

I think Warren could win but if her numbers against Trump don't improve, I think a lot of Democrats are going to be concerned enough with her electability that they back off - just like they did with Dean in 2004.

[elocs]

10. "Warren is whip smart and extremely disciplined in her message"

Frankly she was not disciplined when she got sucked into the whole Pocahontas thing and played right into Trump's hands on that.
She can't do that.

[DrToast]

11. Exactly. Trump has and will get under her skin

I’m amazed at how many people don’t see that.

[Hekate]

17. She and the rest of them have done damn well so far. Trump decimated his GOP opposition in 2016

...with that trick, and I think the Dems are prepared this time.

Don't wrestle in the mud with a pig. You get dirty and the pig likes it.

[Hekate]

16. There's an OP that says she's "the one to beat," & all I can say is that just feels like the wrong

...like the wrong mental orientation for this campaign against this president.

Elizabeth's got it right so far -- and so do most if not all of the Dems: let's not bloody each other when the mutual threat is so overwhelming.