By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAYElizabeth Warren, candidate for Senate from Massachusetts, addresses the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night in Charlotte.
By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAYElizabeth Warren, candidate for Senate from Massachusetts, addresses the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night in Charlotte.
Wednesday night, at her first convention, Elizabeth Warren sought to claim Kennedy's mantle — and his Senate seat — saying she's ready to answer the call.In her distinctive rhetorical style, the Democratic Senate candidate from Massachusetts twice said the middle class was being "hammered." She said the system is "rigged" three times, and argued for a "level playing field" five times.Warren is looking to dislodge Sen. Scott Brown from the Senate seat that Brown won after Kennedy's death in 2009. A prime-time speech leading into a former president would be a coveted slot for any first-time Senate candidate, and Warren herself noted that it was her first Democratic convention."I sure never dreamed that I'd be the warm-up act for President Bill Clinton— an amazing man who had the good sense to marry one of the coolest women on this planet," she said over chants of "Warren! Warren!"As Warren led into Clinton, Wednesday night's prime-time speakers bridged two wings of the Democratic Party— Kennedy-like northeastern liberals and Clinton's southern, more moderate "New Democrats."Warren represents the new liberal wing of the Democratic Party, a champion of gender equity and gay rights, but who is best known for taking on banks and Wall Street. As an expert in bankruptcy law, she fought credit card companies and was the architect of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.In her speech, Warren gave President Obama credit for the agency, saying he stood up to an "army of lobbyists" that tried to kill the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. And she noted that the new consumer bureau just had its first major enforcement action, a $210-million settlement with Capital One for what the government said were deceptive practices.Taking a shot at GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, she said none of the small business owners she has met earned money from "risky Wall Street bets that brought down our economy." And "not one of them — not one — stashes their money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes."Warren herself provided the rhetorical groundwork for Obama's now-famous "You didn't build that" remark more than a year ago. "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody," she said in a viral YouTube video in 2010.Wednesday, she said Americans "don't resent that someone else makes more money.""We're Americans," Warren said. "We celebrate success. We just don't want the game to be rigged."The Massachusetts contest is one of 33 races that will decide control of the Senate, and one of the most hotly contested. Democrats now control 51 seats, though two independents also caucus with them.Brown, Warren's opponent in the Massachusetts race, noted that Warren's speech failed to give him credit for voting in favor of Dodd-Frank — giving the bill a filibuster-proof margin needed to pass the Senate.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.