Elizabeth Warren Comes Home; Set To Run For Senate?

Thursday marks a big moment for consumer rights in America. After nearly three years of political wrangling, the new consumer protection agency is officially opening its doors in Washington.

For many on the left, it's a bittersweet moment, primarily because the woman who first proposed the agency, and who has been working to set it up for the past 10 months, was bypassed by President Obama to be its first director.

That woman is Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor and one of the nation's leading advocates for the middle class.

Warren's work has landed her on Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people, but that's hardly helped her win over critics who have called her everything from a "fiery zealot" to a "power hungry headline seeker."

With her work to establish the consumer protection agency now complete, Warren is on her way back to Massachusetts, where many supporters are hoping she'll launch a challenge to Senator Scott Brown.

On Monday, Warren did not rule out a run during an appearance on MSNBC.

"Massachusetts does beckon in the sense that it’s my home and I need to go home,’’ Warren said. "I’ll do more thinking then, but I need to do that thinking not from Washington; I need to go home.’"

For many observers, the question will be whether Warren can see herself happy as a U.S. Senator.

"She's a crusader and that will be really interesting if this powerful person with a burning desire to change the system, and who really focuses on one particular issue, ends up in this one slow moving body," said Jodi Kantor, a New York Times reporter who profiled Warren last year.

Kantor gives Radio Boston the background on Warren. And, Republican analyst, Jack Clancy and Democratic analyst, Michael Goldman join us to discuss Warren's affect on the Senate race.

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