Elizabeth Warren's hard choice in Democrats' White House run

WASHINGTON (AP) — Coveted but coy, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is staying painstakingly neutral in the Democratic presidential contest for now, frustrating supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders while awaiting the right moment to lay her considerable chits on the table.

Warren is idolized by an army of liberal voters who were crestfallen that she didn't run herself, and her longtime antipathy toward a financial system that she says is rigged against average Americans is a dominant Democratic theme of 2016.

The Oklahoma City daughter of a janitor, Warren became a champion of consumer financial issues, author and Harvard law school professor.

Two weeks ago, Warren released a report alleging lax federal treatment of corporate law-breakers and wrote an opinion column in The New York Times that attempted to inject that subject into the presidential contest.

Last week, she spoke on the Senate floor about crippling student debt, her opposition to the Pacific trade treaty and the laxity with which she says the government punishes corporate crimes.

Yet Warren has praised Clinton for proposing expanded Wall Street regulations and new levies on U.S. companies that merge with foreign firms to reduce their tax bills.

[...] in Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people last year, a Clinton-written thumbnail of Warren lauded her for pressing her causes with powerful people, "even presidential aspirants."