Warren's campaign says she 'took heat' during debate because she's ahead in the polls

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) campaign knows exactly why several of her fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidates went after her during Tuesday's debate.

Warren has "built momentum by running a campaign of substance, identifying problems facing the country, and laying out her plans for big structural change to fix them," spokeswoman Kristen Orthman told CNN. "She took heat tonight as a result of that momentum, but she stayed focused on what's broken and how she plans to fix it with a government and an economy that works for the people. That's how Elizabeth will win the nomination, beat Donald Trump, and make big, structural change."

A frontrunner in many polls, Warren was targeted by, among other candidates, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who said she had "no plan" for how to pay for Medicare-for-all, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who was not happy that Warren wouldn't give him credit for helping get votes for her Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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