AND IN MASSACHUSETTS – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  Republicans are having a field day in Massachusetts, as probable Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is put on the defensive over ethnicity and its many uses.

Solemn Elizabeth has handled the issue poorly.  It turns out that the "woman of the people," who has become a multi-, multi-millionaire as a Harvard Law School professor and private lawyer, once claimed "minority" status.  Harvard Law listed her as an example of diversity because, the hype said, she was Native American.  In fact, we learn that she is at best 1/32 Cherokee and can produce no documents or family papers actually linking her to the tribe.  At one point she stopped listing herself as a minority.  She now explains, with extreme lameness, that she did so because the listing wasn't leading to more social meetings with people of her "heritage," as she'd hoped it would.  She also says she knows she's Native American by her high cheekbones.  I kid you not.  That's what she said. 

Warren's answers reflect her lack of political experience.  One pundit suggested that a team of pros be brought in to handle her campaign and put a muzzle on her. 

At the same time, Senator Scott Brown, the Republican miracle man who was elected to serve out the term of the deceased Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate and is now running for a full six-year term of his own, has handled the matter gingerly, simply asking Warren to answer press questions on her use of ethnic background to advance herself.  He knows he cannot push this too hard without creating a sympathy backlash for Warren, who needs all the sympathy she can get.

It's assumed that Warren will be the nominee of her party.  However, the Dems will not actually pick their candidate for the Senate until a September 6th primary.  There is still time for someone else to get into the race should Warren continue to make her campaign the original amateur hour.

May 8, 2012