Warren downplays ‘do or die’ Super Tuesday

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN knows that Super Tuesday is “a big deal” with the large number of delegates at stake in the Democratic presidential race, but she declined to say whether Tuesday is “do or die” for her campaign.

“Today is just part of getting out and talking to people all across this country and hearing from democracy,” she said after voting in Cambridge.

Warren cast her ballot at Graham & Parks School in Cambridge, where she has been voting for 25 years. With her husband, Bruce Mann, and their dog Bailey, by her side, it took Warren over half an hour to walk the short blocks from her house to the polling place, as she shook hands with crowds of supporters lining the sidewalk waving signs and chanting her campaign slogan: “Dream big, fight hard.”

“It’s just a typical election day in Cambridge,” Warren quipped.

With an energetic demeanor and a voice slightly hoarse from campaigning, the Massachusetts senator faces a pivotal day in her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, as 14 states go to the polls, including Warren’s home state of Massachusetts.

After campaigning as a progressive Democrat, Warren has lagged behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, in every nominating contest so far. With Sanders as the current front-runner, the moderate wing of the Democratic Party is coalescing around former vice president Joe Biden. Former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar both dropped out of the race in the last two days and endorsed Biden.

If Warren loses Massachusetts, it will be hard to envision a path in which she can win the nomination.

“It’s very hard to go to another state and make the case you’re the best one to beat Donald Trump if you can’t win your home state,” said Scott Ferson, a Massachusetts Democratic strategist who is not working for any candidate.

Asked if she was worried about Sanders beating her in Massachusetts, Warren said no. “I am not worried. I am happy to part of this democratic process,” she said.

Warren, a former Harvard law professor, made the case that her campaign has already made a difference. Ten years ago she said voted at the same polling place as an everyday voter, a teacher who had studied the challenges facing America’s working families.

“I talked about a lot of solutions and tens of people heard about it,” she said. “I’m now a candidate for president, and I get to talk about what’s broken, and I get to talk about real solutions, and now people across this country are talking about canceling student loan debt. They’re talking about universal childcare that we can actually pay for.…For me, this is just an amazing opportunity to be able to talk to people around this country about what we can do to build a better America.”

As she has previously, Warren avoided attacking Sanders, even when asked about him directly. She was more direct when asked about Buttigieg and Klobuchar endorsing Biden. “That’s where their politics were all along. I don’t think there’s anything surprising here,” Warren said. “But I do believe the Democratic Party is a progressive party.”

Warren said she believes Democratic ideas are popular across the country. “I think that people across this country see big, big problems, and they don’t want somebody to nibble around the edges, they want big solutions,” she said.

Warren will not stick around Massachusetts to wait for the results. She is planning to hold a rally Tuesday night in Detroit, one week ahead of Michigan’s March 10 primary.