Just to put things in perspective, the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll gives Clinton a 53-point lead over Warren nationally in a hypothetical Democratic nomination battle. A University of New Hampshire poll has Clinton ahead by 40 points in Warren’s backyard. The 2014 midterms aren’t even over yet and there’s no indication Warren intends to run.

And yet merely hearing the footsteps was enough for Clinton to attempt co-opt Warren’s populist message in an embarrassingly clumsy way.