"Elizabeth Warren has no connection to the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which is a good thing, because if she did she might stand to benefit from a proposed Wampanoag casino in Massachusetts.

Then there'd be something serious to talk about.

Warren, the expected Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, traces her Native American roots to the Delaware and Cherokee tribes. And she hasn't had any connection to those kinfolk, except in directories of law professors and law-school documents listing her as a minority.

The Harvard Law School professor, who's challenging Sen. Scott Brown in November, was caught totally off guard by this kerfuffle over Indian blood. And no wonder. From what we know, Warren identified herself as being part Native American when she was a professor at the University of Texas in the 1980s. She grew up in next-door Oklahoma, where Indian ancestry is far more common than in New England. She doesn't claim to know any Native American cousins; she says it was part of family lore."

Get the Story:
JoAnn Fitzpatrick: Elizabeth Warren -- Native American? (The Boston Globe 5/10)

Also Today:
Elizabeth Warren brushes off ‘Trail of Tears’ report (The Boston Herald 5/10)

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