Far-Left Media Looking for a Clinton Challenger

Written by Don Irvine

There may be many in the mainstream media who are looking forward to a presidential run by Hillary Clinton, but the far-left media, which has never been crazy about Hillary, is actively seeking someone else to become the Democratic Party standard bearer in 2016, according to Politico’s Maggie Haberman and Hadas Gold.

The anti-Clinton drumbeat from the left includes Mic.com, a relatively new website aimed at progressive millennials, and left-wing magazines In These Times and The Nation.

For the anti-Clinton activists, names being tossed about include former Virginia Senator Jim Webb, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Socialist Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and their top choice, Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is the darling of the far left.

O’Malley has been testing the presidential waters with visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, while Warren ruled out a run last December, but may reconsider after the Democratic wipeout in the midterms.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and part owner of The Nation, told Politico that they hope to drive a message of economic populism in 2015 and 2016, and that Clinton has never been associated with that wing of the Democratic Party. She said that the party and her candidacy would be better served by competition. That message of economic populism is exactly what makes Warren such a favorite of the left.

Democrats recognized Warren’s growing popularity by giving her a slot in the new Senate minority leadership today and upping her profile in the process.

Clinton’s problems with the left stem mainly from her vote for the Iraq War in 2002, but she has also stumbled with the electorate as a whole for her infamous “What difference does it make?” statement when testifying about Benghazi, and her comments about being “dead broke” after she and Bill left the White House in 2001.

It’s still early in the 2016 presidential campaign cycle, but thanks to the Democrats’ big loss in the midterms—with Hillary campaigning hard for many of the losing candidates—it has raised speculation that she isn’t invincible. A Washington Post political reporter recently stated that the “old Clinton magic doesn’t really work.”

Hillary may still claim the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, but the far left in the media won’t make it easy.

This article was originally posted on the Accuracy in Media blog.