Elizabeth Warren mulling 2012 Senate run in Massachusetts

Harvard University law professor and former Obama administration official Elizabeth Warren is considering a run against Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown (R) in the 2012 election. News reports indicate that she will make her decision around Labor Day.

The Boston Herald reports that Warren has hired Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s campaign architect, Doug Rubin, and is reaching out to other top Democrats in the state.

An unnamed source "close to Warren" told the Herald she would make her decision by Labor Day.

Meanwhile, a Massachusetts Democrat "assisting" Warren told Reuters that she will take the next few weeks to meet with party leaders and activists, and then make a decision after the September 5 holiday.

In a post for the Massachusetts blog Blue Mass Group published on Thursday, Warren wrote that in the coming weeks, "I want to hear from you about the challenges we face and how we get our economy growing again."

"It is time for me to think hard about what role I can play next to help rebuild a middle class that has been hacked at, chipped at, and pulled at for more than a generation—and that that is under greater strain every day," Warren wrote, later adding: "I am glad to be back home. And I’m looking forward to discussing with you what we can accomplish together."

Until recently, Warren had been working in Washington to set up her brainchild, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created as part of the 2010 financial oversight law. While many progressives were hoping that President Barack Obama would select Warren to be the agency's first chief, Obama selected former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray for the job.

Brown, a former State Senator, won an upset victory in January 2010 to replace Senator Edward Kennedy. But according to the Herald, the onetime upstart has around $10 million in his war chest going in to 2012.