Warren insisted as recently as yesterday that Im not running and Im not going to run.

That
hasnt deterred pollsters from including her in surveys of Democrats, such as a Franklin Pierce
University-Boston Herald poll which found her with 22% support in New Hampshire, well
behind Mrs. Clintons 47%.
One exceedingly minor benefit of the Warren-wishing is that it annoys Salons Jim Newell, who
demands:
If Elizabeth Warren is going to be polled against Clinton, why not put Barack Obama
on there too? Barack Obama would fare quite well against Hillary Clinton in a 2016
nomination fight. Better than Warren. But pollsters dont include Barack Obama,
whereas they do include Warren. Why is one fantasy candidate included but not
another? Neither is running for president in 2016. Or why not throw Franklin Delano
Roosevelt in as well? Hes not running, either. But if he did, boy howdy, it would
shape up to be some kinda contest! Hillary would be in reeeeeeeeal trouble all
right!

These are odd rhetorical questions, given that there is an obvious answer: Whereas Warren is
eligible to be president, neither Obama nor FDR is, the former for constitutional reasons and the
latter for biological ones. Further, Warren personifies the progressive left, the element of the
Democratic party most inclined toward antipathy toward Mrs. Clinton (see, for instance, Doug
Henwoods Harpers Essay Stop Hillary!, summarized for nonsubscribers by the Puffington
Host).
News organizations that commission polls want to set up the narrative that theres a real battle
a-brewin, observes Newell. No doubt there is some truth to that, but the Herald headlines Mrs.
Clintons unprecedented lead, not Warrens second-place showing. Heres the full quote,
from pollster R. Kelly Myers: Its unprecedented for a candidate to have this big a lead in a
[presidential] race with an open seat.
Newell complains: What these polls do, in their attempt to set up a juicy narrative, is distract
Democrats from committing to the real choices before themnamely Mrs. Clinton, Bernie

Sanders, Martin OMalley and maybe Biden, none of whom have officially begun a candidacy
either.
Actually, the narrative is that while there isnt a real battle a-brewin, many
Democrats seem to wish there were. HotAir.coms Noah Rothman notes that when
you add up the Herald polls support for candidates other than Mrs. Clinton, you
come up with 48%. Thats right: Anyone but narrowly edges out Clinton in the
first-in-the-nation primary state. What Clinton has going for her right now is the fact
that only former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley seems inclined to mount a
presidential bid at this time (though Biden is, as ever, tanned, rested, and ready to
run). And OMalley only drew 1 percent support among New Hampshire Democrats
in this survey.