Don't be fooled. This story is not about whether Elizabeth Warren is a Native American.
What it's really about is undermining Warren's credibility and competence as a candidate, and, so far, it's working.
"I'm delighted that we have lived the American dream," Warren said Friday.
No one is challenging her good fortune, or ethnic background.
“Are you part Indian?” Hiller asked.
“Yes,” Warren said.
But she dug a hole for herself Friday when she couldn't–or wouldn't– say whether she cited her minority status when she applied for jobs at Harvard and elsewhere.
"I believe I was recruited at Harvard because I'm a good teacher,” Warren said.
A reporter followed up: “In terms of any other applications for college or for any other job, did you ever mention it?”
Warren: “I’m- not that I recall."
But now her campaign confirms Warren was named a minority professor by the Association of American Law Schools from 1986 through 1995, three years after she was hired at Harvard.
Senator Scott Brown would like you to think he has nothing to do with the story:
"You guys have asked a lot of questions that have raised questions not only for you but for anybody who’s reading and listening to your stories. She should answer those questions, pretty simple," Brown said.
Forced to play defense, Warren escalated the battle, her campaign claiming Brown is making "nasty insinuations" about "the qualifications and ability of a woman."
Brown wants to play it cute as long as he can:
"I didn't accuse her of anything," Brown said.
The Brown Campaign has always portrayed Warren as a pointy-headed Harvard Law School professor–wealthy and out-of-touch.
If Brown can now make it sound as if Warren didn't deserve the job–or wouldn't get it without a boost from affirmative action–she'll be wounded, and her counter-attack–that Brown is at war with women–says she knows it.