Mass. Democrats Angry Over Gov. Patrick’s Warren Endorsement

Some Massachusetts Democrats are angry over what they consider was Gov. Deval Patrick’s premature endorsement of U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren.

A top Democratic operative said the endorsement Wednesday was designed to keep Warren’s chief rival for the party’s nomination, Marisa DeFranco, in check, according to the Boston Herald.

“They don’t want to allow (DeFranco) to catch fire,” the Herald quoted the Democratic insider as saying.

DeFranco challenged Warren earlier this week to a series of debates. She also blasted Patrick’s endorsement, referring to it as the kind of thing old “party bosses who made decisions in smoke-filled rooms” used to do.

She added that the choice should be left to the voters in the primary this August to determine which Democrat faces off against incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown.

Warren’s campaign has come up against some tough questions lately about whether she claimed Native American minority status at Harvard University and at least one other school to further her law school teaching career.=

She acknowledged Wednesday for the first time that she did make her Cherokee heritage known to Harvard, but that it was not a factor in the decision to hire her.

Patrick, the de facto head of the state party, told reporters as he endorsed Warren, “We don’t care about that subject.”