Warren & Warren: Warm Local Spotlight Amid Harsh National Limelight [Video]

After several days of harsh national media spotlight this week for Elizabeth Warren, the gathering of Newton Democrats yesterday may have seemed all warm-and-fuzzy.

At least 100 people showed up to meet her, despite the early morning hour. Despite the dreary, drizzly weather.

And introducing Warren was Warren: Newton mayor Setti Warren formally announcing his endorsement of her only weeks after dropping out of the race himself.

Hours later, Brookline's Alan Khazei also formally announced that he, too, was bowing to the steamroller that Elizabeth Warren's campaign has become, saying:

"...it has become clear to me while talking with my family and friends, that the best way for me to be of service now is to bring this campaign to a close. Elizabeth Warren has struck a chord with citizens across our state and across our country, at all levels of the political process, and I congratulate her on doing that so quickly."

Khazei and Setti Warren were preceded in dropping out of the race by former lieutenant governor candidate Bob Massie.

Elizabeth Warren reported raising more than $3.1 million in a six-week period ending Sept. 30.

But State Rep. Tom Conroy, from Wayland, made it clear he has no plans to drop out.

Newton's Herb Robinson and North Shore immigration lawyer Marisa DeFranco have also been campaigning to become the Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Scott Brown.

According to Elizabeth Warren campaign spokesman Kyle Sullivan, Setti Warren not only will be campaigning for Elizabeth but also be an advisor.

Elizabeth Warren's rapid consolidation of her hold on both campaign fund-raising and opinion polls since she announced last month has helped make even hotter a race  that has already grabbed national attention:

"Elizabeth Warren is running for office in the most high-profile race in the country not involving Barack Obama." -- The Daily Beast

"...perhaps the premier 2012 election test of themes behind the Occupy Wall Street movement." -- Salon

But what really set things astir on Monday of this week was Warren's seeming to claim intellectual motherhood of the Occupy Wall Street movement in an interview with The Daily Beast.  She walked the statement back Thursday, telling the Boston Globe that the Occupy movement is "independent."

Part of Warren's attractiveness as a candidate is her ability to articulate the themes underlying the Occupy movement.

This is Warren's first political campaign.

Massachusetts Republicans have responded with a video calling Warren the 'Matriarch of Mayhem."