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Is liberal favorite Elizabeth Warren open to 2016 presidential run?

Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigns in Iowa this month.
(Steve Pope / Getty Images)
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Much to the disappointment of her ardent fans, Elizabeth Warren has repeatedly, emphatically and in no uncertain terms said she is not running for president in 2016.

Or is she?

People magazine drew out the following response from the Democratic senator and liberal favorite during a recent interview at her home in Cambridge, Mass.

“I don’t think so,” Warren said. “If there’s any lesson I’ve learned in the last five years, it’s don’t be so sure about what lies ahead. There are amazing doors that could open.”

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Well, that was a different way to answer the same old question.

The senator’s office in Washington had no immediate response, but Warren enthusiasts most certainly did, seeing it as just the opening needed to propel her possible candidacy.

“Her economist populist message resonates with voters of all stripes, and her agenda offers a pathway to success for Democrats,” said Adam Green, co-founder Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which supports like-minded candidates.

The senator has drawn political rock-star-sized crowds this midterm election cycle as she takes her Main-Street-over-Wall-Street message to the most unlikely venues. Not up for reelection herself until 2018, she has become a prolific fundraiser and is stumping in conservative states, including Kentucky and West Virginia, where Democrats are fighting to keep control of the Senate.

Best known before her own Senate run two years ago as the architect of the new consumer financial protection agency created after the economic meltdown, Warren is a hero to the liberal left - and would pose a progressive challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s expected run for the Democratic nomination.

This week, the Warren team was hard at work on more immediate business - collecting online votes for the next run of Warren T-shirts emblazoned with her best-of quotes.

One choice reads: “We need a cop on the beat so no one steals your purse on Main Street or your pension on Wall Street.”

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It’s a message that has drawn many listeners this year, and potentially more in 2016.

For the latest from Congress follow @LisaMascaro

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