Now Comes the Hard Part by Jonathan Cohn

Article on Elizabeth Warren.

She will not comment on whether she might head the [consumer protection] agency, for the same reason administration officials will not. "What we’re trying to do is build an institution that’s over and above any individual," Ms. Farrell said.

Ms. Warren does say that if she and the administration lose on the agency’s passage, she’d like them to lose big -- to force lawmakers, as she puts it, to leave "lots of blood and teeth" on the floor.

If that happens, Ms. Warren will still have her own platform, starting with her nearly constant stream of television appearances. Hosts and cameramen love her: she has the friendly face of a teacher, the pedigree of a top law professor, the moral force of a preacher and the plain-spoken twang of an Oklahoman.

"This is America’s middle class," she recently said on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." "We’ve hacked at it and pulled at it and chipped at it for 30 years now, and now there’s no more to do. We fix this problem going forward, or the game really is over."

"When you say it like that and you look at me like that, I know your husband is backstage, I still want to make out with you," Mr. Stewart responded.

If no agency or government post materializes, Ms. Warren says she will happily return to Harvard. Others expect her to do more, including Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor who has come to know her through their shared interest in consumer advocacy.

"Plan B is to become Ralph Nader," he said.

I [heart] Joe Biden.