Elizabeth Warren is catching fire

Interviews with more than a dozen attendees, along with comments from panelists, suggest that Clinton — who many on the left view as too hawkish and soft on Wall Street — is still struggling to generate enthusiasm among progressives, even as she’s all but certain to announce a 2016 bid within a few months. The lack of excitement is especially palpable among younger liberals, the set who helped power Barack Obama to the Democratic nod over Clinton in 2008.

Warren, on the other hand, has seen her liberal stock rise even higher in recent days. Her fury over the “cromnibus” bill has further inspired her supporters, as has her loud opposition to Antonio Weiss, a presidential nominee for a Treasury Department post who has ties to Wall Street. On issues such as income inequality, student loan reform and more, progressives interviewed felt Warren could better channel their frustrations than Clinton. And they see her presence in a primary as a guarantee that Clinton would have to move further left and talk more about progressive issues.

“This is Elizabeth Warren’s moment,” said Ben Wikler, MoveOn’s Washington director, during the “Draft Warren” panel. “[We] can see [that] this week when the bill that was about to sail through Congress became a national fight because Elizabeth Warren raised the alarm.”