Warren struggles in her own home state as Sanders targets Massachusetts

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Warren struggles in her own home state as Sanders targets Massachusetts

Bernie showed up in Massachusetts this weekend, aiming to defeat Warren in her own state come Super Tuesday.

BOSTON -- This weekend, Sen. Bernie Sanders walked into fellow progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren's backyard looking for a fight.

While most other candidates' eyes are trained on the race in South Carolina, Sanders was in Massachusetts holding two rallies that drew thousands.

"The establishment is getting very nervous about our campaign," Sanders told a Boston crowd Friday. "Tonight, they’re going to turn on the TV and find the 10,000 people who came out to the Boston Commons and they’re going to become even more nervous."

Warren, meanwhile, has no plans to return to Massachusetts until Tuesday morning -- to cast her own ballot -- then she'll be off to Michigan before the polls close.

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A new poll out yesterday shows Sanders leading over Warren in her own state by eight points, according to WBUR. The poll showed 25 percent of Massachusetts Democrats picking Bernie, 17 percent favoring Warren and, not far behind, Buttigieg at 14 percent and Bloomberg at 13 percent.

"I am here to ask you to bring out your friends and your family and your co-workers so that we have the largest voter turnout in the history of Massachusetts," Sanders told the Springfield crowd Friday night to thunderous applause.

Bernie's campaign also kicked off a four-day event they are calling "Berniepalooza" in Worcester, with a lineup of musical performances and canvassing in hopes of mobilizing his base -- like progressive college-age kids -- in a state full of them.

"Young voters support Bernie Sanders," said Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist. "That is what helped him in New Hampshire. That's what helped him in Nevada. That's what will help him here in Massachusetts."

After a dismal performance in neighboring New Hampshire, along with all of the other early primary contests, Fox News asked Warren about her level of confidence in winning her own state.

She responded by pointing to her 2012 senate run, a time she was also lagging in the polls.

"I am so grateful to the people of Massachusetts who took a chance on me back in 2012," Warren said. "When I got in the race, I was down 17 points.”

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Warren supporters, like the candidate herself, are remaining optimistic -- but they know what's on the line here.

"Massachusetts means everything to Elizabeth Warren as a candidate," said Emmy Leviss, a sophomore at Tufts University who supports Warren. "We've seen the changes she can make on a state level."

Last weekend, Leviss was among about two dozen Warren supporters who descended on the deep-blue town of Cambridge, Mass. -- where Warren lives -- knocking on doors with hopes of spreading the word and keeping her candidacy alive.

Warren supporters gather in Cambridge, Mass. to canvass for her ahead of Super Tuesday.

"This is her house. This is her turf," former Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern said to the group at the canvass kickoff. "We are her people."

But don't expect Massachusetts voters to support Warren just because she's their senator, Marsh said.

"Massachusetts is never a gimme for anybody, as we've learned over the years," Marsh said. "There are no more home-field advantages anymore. The only one who ever seemed to have won in 2016 was Bernie Sanders, who took all 16 delegates out of Vermont. And Hillary Clinton didn't get one."

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"You've probably seen her at Paddy's having a drink with the locals," McGovern said to the group, some of whom were Cambridge residents. "You've probably seen her at Fresh Pond with [her dog] Bailey."

McGovern is one of 147 federal, statewide and local elected Massachusetts officials and community leaders who have endorsed Warren, according to a press release from her campaign.