MANCHESTER, N.H. — Shortly after the most recent Democratic presidential debate, a reporter told Sen. Elizabeth Warren that there were moments when she “seemed to disappear.”
“Well, I had my hand up — wanted to talk,” Ms. Warren shot back, blaming it on all the “crosstalk” among her rivals.
As Ms. Warren heads into Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary off a third-place finish in Iowa, supporters of the Massachusetts senator are getting frustrated that the top-tier contender somehow appears to be getting lost in the shuffle in favor of wall-to-wall attention on “mediocre” white men.
“Third is pretty impressive, right? A good showing in Iowa. Where is the coverage of that?” said Kate O’Phalen, a New Hampshire native who now lives in Brooklyn, New York. “[We were] talking a lot about Biden because he didn’t have a great showing instead of the one woman who really did.”
“I think that’s a sentiment that all of us who are female identify [with] and kind of share. We know what that feels like — like, ’I’ve been here, I have a plan, I’m ready to talk. Why are you not talking to me?’” she said.
Ms. Warren, who for a time last year challenged former Vice President Joseph R. Biden at the top of the Democratic pre-primary polls, ended up winning eight delegates to the Democratic National Convention out of Iowa. That was behind former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who claimed 14, and Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont with 12, but it was ahead of Mr. Biden, who won just six.
Still, much of the focus in New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday’s vote has been on the back-and-forth between Mr. Buttigieg and Mr. Sanders, along with the precipitous fall of Mr. Biden, whose campaign is struggling after the former vice president had enjoyed front-runner status in national polling for much of 2019.
The attention deficit clearly ticks off Warren backers.
“She’s done everything she’s supposed to do. Buttigieg — he’s a cute boy. What more do you need to know?” said Ann Barysh of Massachusetts. “And he has — [it’s] my daughter’s expression — she calls it the ’mediocre white boy background.’”
Crisscrossing New Hampshire over the weekend, Ms. Warren tried to project an underdog mentality.
“I’ve been winning unwinnable fights pretty much all my life,” she said. “There are a lot of folks who are going to talk about what’s not winnable, what can’t be done, and definitely about who can’t do it. They’re going to talk about it right up until we get in that fight, we persist, and we win.”
Paula Brown, 49, of Natick, Massachusetts, said it’s “hogwash” to say Ms. Warren isn’t “electable.”
“It’s so unfortunate what’s happening in the media with her and Klobuchar,” Ms. Brown said.
She also called yet another female candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who dropped out of the race in December, “amazing.”
“She wasn’t my top candidate, but she should still be in the race,” Ms. Brown said. “I guess I don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on it. … You keep knocking on doors and you do the next right thing to get the right woman in the office.”
Despite the frustration, Ms. Warren’s supporters simultaneously tried to shrug things off and accept the media narrative as part of the vagaries of politics and campaigning.
Ethan George, a 33-year-old Bostonian who works in non-profits, insisted the race wasn’t frustrating.
“I don’t think so, only because it’s so early,” he said. “Iowa was a good showing for her, and probably New Hampshire will be even better.”
“I would love to see her beat Biden again,” he said. “I think that would be a really great sign. But I don’t know. I don’t know that she needs to finish top two in New Hampshire, but I would love to see her beat Biden.”
Even some people who hadn’t yet settled on a candidate were quick to commiserate.
“It’s surprising. As a woman, I’m sorry to see that once again, a woman is kind of starting out strong and maybe not finishing where I thought she might,” said Kelli Moors, 59, a law firm communications director from Carlsbad, California, who said she was leaning toward Mr. Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
The positive vibes for Ms. Warren were not shared universally.
Barbara Wilson, a 68-year-old voter from Nashville, Tennessee, said seeing Ms. Warren was her “most negative experience” among the 2020 contenders she has seen in person.
“I think she is loud. She is unrealistic with all the money she wants to pour out,” she said. “I would love to see a woman in the White House — somebody solid. Sadly, it’s not going to be her.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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