OH, THE EXCITEMENT, OUR WONDERFUL LUCK – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  Elizabeth Warren is in.  Aren't you surprised?  Count her presence among your, er, blessings.  From Fox:

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Monday she is filing paperwork to launch an exploratory committee for president, taking her first major step toward a 2020 run for the White House.

“Today, I’m launching an exploratory committee for president,” Warren, 69, a Democrat, said in a video released to supporters.

In her announcement, the liberal firebrand argued government "has been bought and paid for by a bunch of billionaires and giant corporations that think they get to dictate the rules that affect everyone," calling it "corruption, pure and simple."

"That’s not how government is supposed to work," Warren said. "You know it. I know it. And we know it is time to fight back."

As for details about her campaign, Warren said she'll "announce a plan" early in the new year.
Warren burst onto the national scene a decade ago during the financial crisis with calls for greater consumer protections. She quickly became one of the party's more prominent liberals even as she sometimes fought with Obama administration officials over their response to the market turmoil.

Now, as a likely presidential contender, she is making an appeal to the party's base. Her video notes the economic challenges facing people of color along with images of a women's march and Warren's participation at an LGBT event.

Warren is the most prominent Democrat yet to make a move toward a presidential bid and has long been a favorite target of President Trump.

In October, Warren took the rare step of releasing DNA test results examining her possible Native American ancestry, in apparent response to persistent criticism from Trump and other Republicans.

Warren for years has been accused of exaggerating her Native American heritage to help get a job as a Harvard law professor. The president, highlighting the controversy that has dogged her since her first campaign for the Senate, routinely uses the nickname “Pocahontas” for her.

The results released by Warren revealed “strong evidence” that Warren had a Native American ancestor dating back six to 10 generations. But the test may have caused new issues with the Native American community.

The Cherokee Nation responded to the results at the time by arguing that “a DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship.”

COMMENT:  It won't take long now before others jump in with "exploratory" committees.  I wonder what they explore.  They all have these committees and the only thing you hear about them is their formation.  Maybe they hold parties.  Or meetings.  (I hope Lizzie doesn't call them pow-wows.)

I can feel the excitement.

December 31,  2018