Since it’s always colors the way people read the diary, I’m a Warren supporter. I do think in 2 major ways she has shaped the 2020 race, and saved us from two scenarios that would have negatively impacted our party.
1) Bernie. I was one of the people who had little knowledge of Bernie Sanders prior to the 2016 primary. I was surprised when I took the online survey that showed that I was 98% aligned with his policies. I still ended up supporting Clinton in the 2016 primary. I felt like there was no way a self-described socialist had any chance of being President, and that he would negatively impact down ballot races, and that his coalition wouldn’t actually vote. Come 2020, I was excited that Warren decided to run, and she delivered as I had hoped. Well thought out policies, plans, a strategy to pay for those things, it was everything I wanted. I was surprised that Bernie still decided to run, rather than throw his support behind her. I think Warren exposed him, though. He had four years to come up with the counter-arguments to all of the arguments against his bold ideas. Four years to come up with how the democratic party could run with a socialist at the top of the ticket. Four years to provide all the details skeptics had been looking for. But he didn’t. Warren did. Warren made him and his camp look not that serious to bringing about big change. This is why his support didn’t grow between the 2016 primary race and now. People like me got what we needed from Warren, not Bernie. And because of that, despite the head-to-head poll numbers that do look OK right now, I think he would have been a tough matchup for us in November and bad to disastrous down ballot.
2) Bloomberg. Let’s not forget, in the triumph that Biden is having right now, that he has run a pretty uninspiring primary campaign, bleeding support for several months. His weakness was what prompted Bloomberg to come in and spend $400+ million, and try and buy his way on the top of the Democratic party ticket. And because Biden was doing poorly, moderates and the party establishment was about to let him do it. Seriously, if Joe had lost SC or even just barely won, we’d be looking at a primary where post-Super Tuesday all the calls would be to coalesce around Bloomberg to stop Sanders from running away with the nomination. But Warren prevented all of that by destroying Bloomberg in the debates. She would not allow the party to sell its soul. And once she woke people up to how bad it would actually be for democrats to run with Bloomberg, going back to Biden was really the only chance moderates and the establishment really had, and we are now seeing the result.
I much would have preferred Warren to head up the ticket in 2020 with a bold, detailed, progressive agenda. I do thank her for exposing that Sanders did not do the homework he needed to do over the last four years, and exposing Bloomberg as not the answer to a desperate situation (at least for non-Sanders supporters). I do think in November that Biden will have a better chance than Bloomberg or Sanders would have. Just because Clinton lost the EC, doesn’t mean Biden will. I lived in NC for a while, and let me tell you, the hatred that right wing radio has ingrained in people about Hillary is unbelievable. Biden will just have to deal with the regular BS from the GOP.