Ooops! Notable political gaffes from 2012
Elizabeth Warren's "I am proud of my heritage" controversy
The Democratic candidate for US Senate in Mass. had a hard time escaping from issue of her heritage. Warren claimed that she was part Native American, with her grandmother having Cherokee and Delaware roots. It was an element of her biography that seemed to catch top advisers for her campaign off guard when the issue came up in May.
Supporters of Senator Scott Brown's campaign made fun of her claim of Native American heritage, saying that she was brought on as a professor at Harvard Law School as a phony affirmative action hire.
Warren maintained her heritage claim throughout her campaign and won the Senate seat in the Nov. 6 election.