What Are The Democrats' Alternatives to Clintonland?

Doyle McManus
LA Times

Don't despair, political junkies. There's still going to be a vigorous debate in the Democratic presidential primary campaign — even though it won't really be about who the nominee should be. Unless she stumbles, Hillary Rodham Clinton seems to have the nomination pretty well sewn up.

Instead, the debate will be about something just as important: what it means to be a Democrat in 2016 and what message the party should take into the general election fight.

And, for all you heartbroken liberals, here's good news: In that debate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is still a full-fledged player — not as a candidate but as an insistent voice in Clinton's left ear. Warren, the heroine of the party's progressive wing, met with Clinton a few months ago to urge her to run a populist campaign.

The senator outlined some of the policies she'd like to see: an increase in Social Security benefits, a much higher minimum wage and stronger financial regulation to force big banks to get smaller.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0415-mcmanus-dems-20150415-column.html