The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

Seeing Other People

On Monday, I wrote about the legal policy advisers for the major presidential campaigns. The Edwards campaign sent me six names, one of which was Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren. After the piece posted, I got this e-mail from Warren:

I noted that your recent post listed me as a supporter of Sen.
Edwards.  I long have admired the Senator and have had a continuing
dialogue with him and his staff on issues important to all of
us.  I've had the same kind of dialogue with a number of the other
presidential candidates and their issue staffs.  Contrary to the
suggestion in your piece, however, I have not endorsed any candidate
in the Democratic primary.

The Edwards campaign says they checked with all the advisers they named before giving me the list, and that the problem is that I characterized Warren as "standing with" John Edwards rather than advising him. I guess this is the political equivalent of nonexclusive dating: Warren is free to see other candidates.