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Run Warren Run to Win Bernie Win?

By Scott Galindez, Readers Supported News

14 June 15

he Run Warren Run effort led by MoveOn and Democracy for America had paid staff and field offices in Iowa and New Hampshire. Last week the Run Warren Run effort was put on hold, but the issues and energy they brought to the forefront of the 2016 election are alive and well. The campaign posted a video on their Facebook page summarizing their accomplishments.

Without a doubt, the impact of the Run Warren Run campaign will continue to be felt well beyond the 2016 election. Blair Lawton, the Iowa field director for Run Warren Run, told RSN, “Our campaign did an excellent job of bringing new people into the movement. Nearly half of our volunteers had never been involved with a campaign before; never made a call, never knocked a door, and never attended a county party meeting. Our movement was not only about showing the hunger for a Warren candidacy, but also adding to the progressive base in Iowa.”

“The campaign did not just shutter its doors,” according to Lawton. “We have been spending the past week having individual one-on-one meetings with all of our volunteer leaders. We want to ensure that we are setting them all up for success and getting them involved with whatever they want to be involved with next. We have a wide range of volunteers who are excited to help out with presidential caucus campaigns, issue-organizing groups, or county parties in the state. There has been a lot of interest from caucus campaigns in Iowa who are looking for our staff and volunteers to join their campaigns.”

Lawton, who recently announced to volunteers that he would be joining the Bernie Sanders for President campaign, is not alone. I spoke with several Run Warren Run staffers and key volunteers who told me they too would be taking their energy to the Sanders campaign. Lawton served as a regional field director for President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign in Iowa, and will join the Sanders campaign on Sunday.

Last month the New Hampshire director of Run Warren Run, Kurt Ehrenberg, whose political roots in the state date back 30 years, was hired to be the New Hampshire director for the Sanders campaign. “The Elizabeth Warren draft effort was a terrific idea, and I’m glad we did our best to try to get her in the race,” Ehrenberg told the Vermont website Seven Days.

Wednesday night wasn’t just a wrap-up for the Run Warren Run effort, it was also the first time Senator Warren had held a conference call with over 500 of her supporters. It was the first time she communicated directly with the groups involved in the draft movement. The TPP was the urgent issue for the senator and her supporters. With the vote two days away, she was urging her supporters to call in and urge their congressperson to oppose fast track. Warren told her supporters that the fast-track legislation would not only give authority to President Obama but would also extend to any trade deal over the next six years. She criticized the secrecy of the deal, pointing out that Wall Street lobbyists can see the details but the rest of the American people are being kept in the dark. The TPP stalled in the House on Friday, a big win for Warren and her supporters, but the fight is not over.

Iowa 2016 Update: With the race for president heating up in Iowa, I thought I would start adding an update to the end of my articles to discuss events that I may not be focusing on with a full article. Let’s start with the big news of the day here in Iowa. The Iowa Republican Party voted to to cancel the 2016 straw poll. The event was really nothing more than the party shaking down its candidates and supporters in a meaningless event. The last straw poll was won by Michele Bachman. Bachman was able to bus in 28% of the straw poll attendees while only mustering 5% in the Caucus. Candidates bid on locations for their booths at the straw poll and bus in supporters. “We set the table and they didn’t come to dinner,” said Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann. The beginning of the end for the Iowa straw poll was Jeb Bush announcing he would not attend. At the time it was seen as a slap in the face to Iowa, but many other candidates followed suit. The only candidate I heard say he would attend was Donald Trump. Not really a surprise: The Donald has the money to bus in as many people as needed to win.

Some are saying the straw poll could have narrowed the huge GOP field, but I think that is nonsense. There is nothing Democratic about the straw poll. For example, even if George Pataki bussed in 30% of the straw poll participants, it would not mean he was above 1% in support in Iowa.

Following Hillary Clinton’s announcement on Saturday, she is heading to Iowa for her first public event in the state. The event will be at the Iowa Fairgrounds. It is in the same location as the Iowa Ag Summit, so they will have multiple options on setup, but that venue can pack in thousands.

Bernie Sanders is back in Iowa for the whole weekend, holding town meetings and attending picnics and dinners sponsored by local Democratic organizations and labor unions. Sanders will also open his Des Moines office on Saturday.

On the Republican side, Ben Carson has been drawing standing-room-only crowds, while Rick Santorum held one event for which only the county chair showed up. I think it is safe to say that Iowans aren’t likely to give Santorum two wins in a row in the Hawkeye State.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

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