GOP strategist Ford O’Connell and Democratic strategist Rick Ungar joined "America's Forum" host John Bachman Wednesday on
Newsmax TV to discuss the top political news of the day, including Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren's growing popularity among potential voters.
Many people are calling Warren "2016's Barack Obama" because she could come from the left and take the presidential nomination from presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, Bachman said. But Ungar does not agree.
Story continues below video.
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on DIRECTV Ch. 349 and DISH Ch. 223
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system – Click Here Now
"In a word, no," he said. "Populism and liberalism" have always been present in the Democratic Party, Ungar noted, but the nation is now in a different time from when Obama campaigned on the Iraq War and was able to "rise from nowhere," said Ungar.
And even if Warren got the nomination, Ungar said, he believes she would be "soundly whipped" when the November election came around.
"I don't think the country is ready for that kind of populism yet," he said.
O'Connell, meanwhile, said Clinton does face a challenge from Warren, and that many Republicans believe she will run for office.
"Rick may not want to hear this, but Elizabeth Warren is the biggest single threat to Hillary capturing the nomination in 2016," said O'Connell. And if Clinton can't "fire up blue collar voters and voters under 30," she may have difficulty defeating Warren.
He said Warren is the candidate most in line with the Democratic Party's base, calling her the "Democrats' version of Ted Cruz," the Texas Republican senator.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.