Elizabeth Warren had a strong night during Wednesday’s Democratic debate. But she spent too much time on Michael Bloomberg, the debate’s villain, and not enough time on the one candidate whose success threatens her the most: Bernie Sanders.
Sanders and Warren have been vying for the same bloc of liberal voters, and right now, Sanders is winning. In fact, he’s beating all of the other candidates in just about every state right now, according to recent polls. And it showed during Wednesday’s debate.
There are important differences between Sanders’s campaign and Warren’s, but she has failed to make them known to undecided onlookers. Last night was yet another chance for Warren to do so. Instead, Warren focused on candidates who have little to no chance of winning the nomination, as my colleague Becket Adams pointed out.
She successfully blasted Bloomberg for past sexist comments he made, distanced herself from Pete Buttigieg’s more centrist-sounding platform, and managed to appear benevolent by stepping in to defend Amy Klobuchar. Yet she avoided Sanders entirely.
To make the case for her campaign, Warren must go after Sanders and specifically press the reasons why her platform is more realistic than his. And in theory, it is. On student loan debt cancellation, for example, Warren’s plan would be proportional to income, whereas Sanders’s would wipe out student loan debt entirely, no questions asked. And on healthcare, Warren has released a specific single-payer plan that includes specific costs. It’s still ridiculous, but it’s better than Sanders’s vague unwillingness to crunch the numbers.
There’s an argument to be made that Warren’s “Medicare for all” plan is the political disaster that sunk her campaign. But perhaps that says more about the idealism leftist voters are looking for in a candidate than anything else. After all, a concrete plan looks a lot less realistic on paper, while an open-ended promise still holds some sort of possibility.
The problem with her healthcare proposal, however, is the same problem with many of her policies: They’re too similar to Sanders’s. The only real distinction Warren has drawn between herself and the senator from Vermont is her gender. But that won’t be enough — unless she’s planning on settling for a Cabinet position.
If she fails to delineate herself from Sanders, Warren won’t survive Super Tuesday. Liberal voters attracted to the leftist policies Sanders and Warren are promoting will opt for the candidate most likely to win. Right now, that candidate is Sanders, given his success in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Warren will have one more opportunity to better her chances during next week’s debate. If she fails to knock down Sanders once again, she can kiss her campaign goodbye.
