Warren combats Native American attacks in new ad

Updated: 11:24 a.m. ET

(CBS News) Elizabeth Warren is directly combating allegations that she improperly identified as Native American to further her career, releasing a new 30-second-spot in which she addresses the issue head on.

"Let me be clear. I never asked for, never got any benefit because of my heritage. The people who hired me have all said they didn't even know about it," the Massachusetts Senate candidate says in the spot. "Scott Brown can continue attacking my family, but I'm going to keep fighting for yours."

The ad is a direct response to an ad released Monday by her rival, incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown, which rehashed the allegations about Warren's heritage. Warren has said she is Native American, and listed herself as such in some professional forms in the past, but has not offered up documentation proving that she is an official member of the Native American community. Brown has hammered Warren over the allegations for months, and during a debate last week called on her to produce evidence that she did not benefit professionally from her claims to Native American lineage.

In the spot, Warren says she doesn't have proof of her Native American roots because, "as a kid, I never asked my mom for documentation when she talked about our Native American heritage. What kid would?"

"But I knew my father's family didn't like that she was part Cherokee and part Delaware. So my parents had to elope," she continued.

In what has become one of the most closely-watched races in the country, Warren and Brown have been deadlocked in the polls for months. But as Warren made apparent gains following the Democratic National Convention, the campaign took a particularly nasty turn. Brown's new ad was the first character assault of the race, and both have released negative ads.

Warren on Monday sent a fundraising email to supporters yesterday defending her record and lambasting the Brown campaign for the advertisement - which she cast as "an ugly, nasty attack on my family and our heritage."

Boston's WCVB.com, meanwhile, has unearthed video of Brown staffers doing American Indian "war whoops" and making "tomahawk chops" at a rally for the senator this week.

And a new report in the Boston Globe notes that Warren in the 1990s helped draft a petition to the Supreme Court on behalf of LTV Steel in its effort to avoid paying into a health care fund for retired coal miners.

The Warren campaign said the coal miners would still receive their full benefits and that the case was about bankruptcy principles, but according to the Globe, Warren's opponents in the case argued that the corporation was attempting to use bankruptcy laws to avoid paying their share of the health care.

[MonkeyTree1]

HONEST PEOPLE WILL NEVER VOTE FOR WARREN

Warren is established as a lying thieving dog. LYING HER WAY THROUGH LIFE CLAIMING MINORITY STATUS TO GAIN ADVANTAGE in Education and Employment.

"the Boston Herald reported that in the 1990s Harvard Law School had, in response to criticisms about the lack of faculty diversity, publicized Warren's law directory entries from 1986 to 1995, which listed her
background as Native American ancestry"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Warren

WARREN BELONGS IN JAIL - NOT IN GOVERNMENT

VOTE FOR SCOTT BROWN FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT

[MonkeyTree1]

HONEST PEOPLE WILL NEVER VOTE FOR WARREN

Warren is established as a lying thieving dog. LYING HER WAY THROUGH LIFE CLAIMING MINORITY STATUS TO GAIN ADVANTAGE in Education and Employment.

"the Boston Herald reported that in the 1990s Harvard Law School had, in response to criticisms about
the lack of faculty diversity, publicized Warren's law directory entries from 1986 to 1995, which listed her background as Native American ancestry"

WARREN BELONGS IN JAIL - NOT IN GOVERNMENT

VOTE FOR SCOTT BROWN FOR HONEST GOVERNMENT

[newsgirl27]

Wow. I thought those guys were a bunch of yahoo supporters. That was bad enough. Then found out it was Brown staffers! Jaw-dropping. We pay their salary!

You stay classy Scotty!

[RollotheNorman]

LOL. Hey you MA voters. Who do you want as POTUS? RCP Average says 24.8% more MA voters want Obama than want Willard as POTUS. Which Senator is going to support Obama more? Scott (RepubliCON Weasel) Brown or Elizabeth Warren? It's a no-brainer, natch.

[tsigili]

So.....now there are charges that she has been practicing law without a state license? That's not good.

[RollotheNorman]

Just more RepubliCON innuendo and lies.

[newsgirl27]

tsigili-
If you are working on a federal case, as Warren has most recently, you do NOT need a state license.
But don't let the facts get in the way of your latest Republican freak out lie.

[Heather2013]

Second School Reveals Elizabeth Warren Used Her Phony Native ...


www.thegatewaypundit.com/.../second-school-reveals-elizabeth-warr

[rastafanman]

I want who will best represent me, does this matter, not in the slightest.

[hamiltongrad]

What a joke.

[habu_71]

I'm an Independent and new to this site, but that article does not "read" unbiased journalism. I suppose CBS endorsed Ms Warren.

[Heather2013]

Elizabeth Warren is a liar and a fraud......She keeps putting ad's out that she is for "the working people" Yet she worked very hard for company's to make sure those same people did not get the rights and benefits they deserve......Very Dishonest!! The Indian part is just another notch on her belt of things she fabricates......How can anyone look at this woman and not see through it?? She talks about going to Wa"r"shington....and changing it and fighting against "the big guys".....isnt "her guy" the guy in Wa"r"shington right now?? So shes going to change him???

[RollotheNorman]

Yeah, maybe, but she will be trouncing Scott Ly'n RepubliCON Brown. My guess is you are some loon from SC and don't have any stake in the race at all. But in case you really do live in MA and don't like losing RepubliCON representation, consider moving to OK.