If you’re a spectator of Democratic Party politics right about now, you’ve probably watched the 2016 presidential election sweepstakes unfolding with interest. Dems probably won’t get close to the huge stable of potential nominees the Republican Party is currently wrangling with, and Hillary Clinton seems to have the nomination locked up, so much so that she's not even started her campaign yet. But there are other viable candidates. Vice President Joe Biden is also, uh, bidin’ his time (sorry). And then there’s progressive firebrand Elizabeth Warren. She says she’s not running, but she’s got a vocal fan base who have continued to push her name into the conversation in a big way.
One question you may have asked yourself at this point: If Warren, why not Sen. Sherrod Brown? Or maybe, if you’re like some of the prominent progressive political operatives in this Washington Post story, that possibility hasn’t entered your mind. But as that story asks, why not?
Ohio’s senior senator has the deep progressive bonafides of Warren plus a heap more experience, an easy-going way about him and a high profile in the nation’s highest deliberative body. Plus, if we haven’t already said this (we have), Ohio’s so hot right now. Our other senator, Rob Portman, had been considered a potential candidate for the Republican nomination before he dropped out in December. Fellow GOPer Gov. John Kasich’s name has been floated a lot as well, though he’s been coy about his intentions. And there’s a good possibility all three political conventions will be converging on our vital swing state in 2016. A presidential candidate from Ohio could wrap the state up for either party.
So why not Brown? Is it the perception that Democrats are ready to elect the first female president after Barack Obama's history-making election? Is it Brown’s own reluctance, or outright refusal, actually, to play along? Is it the fact that he sounds like the Dark Knight when he talks? (The Post says Tom Waits. I consider either an asset.) Brown says he's focused on doing the job he has now, but they all say that, right?
“I don’t think you can do your job well in the Senate if you’re looking over your shoulder wanting to be president,” Brown tells the Post. Earlier in the article, he says, “I know you don’t believe this, but I don’t really think about it all that much.”
