Elizabeth Warren’s White House bid misfires

Elizabeth Warren rose in the Democratic presidential nomination race on policy strengths but in recent months her campaign slipped into political quicksand, overshadowed by two rivals: one a radical populist, the other more moderate.

On Tuesday, the 70-year-old Massachusetts senator, a combination of ebullient campaign trail charm and schoolmarmish determination, suffered her worst setback yet, a multi-state thrashing at the polls by fellow candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.

With 18 of 50 statewide contests complete -- 14 of them on Super Tuesday -- Warren placed first or second in none of them, including her home state of Massachusetts, a clear embarrassment.

Onetime nomination rival Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur who quit the race last month, weighed in on Twitter: "Elizabeth Warren deserves to be doing better than this."

Her transparency about her campaign's costly health care plan may have spooked voters. Perhaps her debate stage evisceration of Michael Bloomberg made her appear too strident, as critics claimed.

Some may have rejected her about-face on accepting donations from deep-pocketed political groups. Or are Americans just not ready to elect a woman president?

There are several possible reasons why Warren surged into the top tier of candidates last summer only to flounder at the voting booth for the past month.