WASHINGTON – Barney Frank, the former congressman who was among the first to publicly promote Elizabeth Warren as a Senate candidate, said Tuesday that she would be a strong contender for president if Hillary Rodham Clinton chooses not to run.
“If Hillary doesn’t run, she’s going to be very much in the mix,” Frank, who retired in January, said in a phone interview, explaining that he has not spoken to Warren about her intentions.
“Absent Hillary, it’s a pretty open field,” he continued. “Joe Biden has a lot of support, but he’s not in the kind of lock-it-up position.”
Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat in her first year in the Senate, has denied interest in the presidency. But speculation has swirled in recent weeks amid a slew of articles making the case that her popularity among liberals and vast fund-raising network would make her a strong candidate who could at least appeal to the Democratic base.
While others have dismissed the speculation, Frank, known for his candor, sounded as if he takes it seriously.
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He recalled again the moment he mentioned Warren as a potential Senate candidate. It was in a 2011 conversation with President Obama, while the two men were at an event together. Warren at the time was facing strong Republican opposition to her potential appointment as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she helped create.
When Frank mentioned that Warren might make a strong candidate, Obama asked whether Warren wanted to be a senator.
“I think she wants your job,” Frank told Obama. But she has to start somewhere, he added.
Frank said he would be surprised if she has not thought about running for president.
“Think about somebody who’s been playing shortstop in Double-A ball for a few years,” he said. “Do you think he would say, ‘By the way, I don’t want to go to the majors?’ ”
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Frank and Warren have a tight relationship. Before Warren ran for Senate, she worked closely with him in crafting the financial overhaul known as Dodd-Frank.
But more recently, Warren has said the legislation failed to rein in the “too-big-to-fail” problem that led to both the financial crisis and the bank bailouts that accompanied it. Frank pushed back against that critique.
“She’s confusing too big and too big to fail,” Frank said. “We have resolved too big to fail. If they [financial institutions] fail, they are put out of business.”
Notwithstanding their disagreement, Frank said Warren’s only liability would be her limited experience in the Senate.
But she would have time to develop greater expertise in foreign policy or other disciplines where she has spent less time, he said.
“She starts out a little older,” Frank said of Warren, who is 64. “She was an older freshman, but she’s vigorous and energetic and she’s a lot younger than Joe Biden.”
Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahbierman.