Fiorina's Hat In The Ring
wesmorgan1(Courtesy CNN)
Carly Fiorina will run in the GOP Senate primary in California, with the winner set to challenge Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer in 2010:
(CNN) -- Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina finally made it official Wednesday: She's running for Senate in California.
The first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company made the announcement at an event in conservative Orange County, pledging that her focus will be on economic recovery and fiscal accountability"
"The decisions made in Washington impact every family and every business, of any size, in America. Throughout my career, I've brought people together and solved problems, and that is what I plan to do in government: Set aside ego and partisanship and work to develop solutions to our problems," she told supporters.
"I will not settle for a jobless recovery, and we must start the important work of getting our financial house back in order," Fiorina added. "Washington must show discipline to cut spending and create policies that encourage and empower businesses and put people back to work."
Fiorina, considered to be a moderate Republican with little history on social issues, will face off against conservative California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore for the GOP nomination.
This already looks like another potential moderate/conservative decision for Republicans. Fiorina was one of John McCain's primary surrogates in the 2008 Presidential race, until she spoke out of turn on a few issues. One of her more 'unconservative' statements came when she suggested that private health insurance should be required to cover the costs of birth control.
There's also a certain element of national/local conflict in play. While Fiorina is said to be the preferred candidate of party bigwigs at the national level, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore already holds the endorsement of over half of the California GOP's elected officials; in addition, he just picked up endorsements from US Senator Jim DeMint, the Senate Conservative Fund, and Erick Ericson of corporate blog RedState.com.
I must say that I think Fiorina faces an uphill battle.
She can't really talk about "not settling for a jobless recovery" and "empowering business" when her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard saw the company lay off 28,000 workers (while arguing for more H-1B visas), pursue and complete a painful merger with Compaq, and lose more than half its stock value (from $52 to $21) before she was ousted by the Board of Directors in 2005. She left with a severance package in excess of $20 million. She came under fire back in 2008 when she said that neither McCain nor Obama "could run a major company." Well, neither can she, and that doesn't give her a strong position from which to talk about job creation or healthy businesses. If that's going to be her primary selling point, I don't think she's going to win any election that includes Silicon Valley.
Given the recent endorsement of DeVore by several strongly conservative national players, I think that Fiorina will also have to go through an ideological 'purity test.' That's going to be rather interesting to see, because I think that such a primary campaign will ultimately hurt the winner in the general election. Thier ultimate opponent--Barbara Boxer--holds well-known positions on such issues, and has increased her share of the vote in each of her re-election campaigns.
It's going to be interesting out in Lotusland...
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Reader Comments (8)
What am I missing with the reference to a 'corporate blog'? I don't get it.
Though considering it is RedState, I hope it is bad.
RedState is a "subdivision" of Eagle Publishing, the folks who bring us Human Events, Regnery Books, and the Conservative Book Club.
Let the internecine wars begin! Popcorn, please!
RINO's like fiorina are definitely the enemy, so by all means, enjoy the entertainment and the popcorn windy. This is a politically genocidal war. Hopefully Californians are on board.
BTW, did y'all know that California has now placed a 10%, yes 10% tax on EVERY CALIFORNIANS PAYCHECK. They are robbing the people to pay for their inability to govern and having ruined the state with bankruptcy.
Thanks, Tijuana. This is music to my ears!
At 10% I don't know too many people who wouldn't be on board.
Lotsa butter windy, lots and lotsa butter. :)
"What happened in New York’s 23rd is that a small group of party leaders made the mistake of thinking it is easier to expand the GOP by abandoning conservative principles than by doing what Ronald Reagan did: Persuade people in the middle that conservative principles are right. Had the bosses nominated Doug Hoffman in the first place, he would be on his way to D.C. today to be sworn in and vote against Obamacare."
"Pro-life Republicans won governorships in New York and New Jersey and a pro-life Conservative party candidate drove a pro-abortion Republican (in name only) right out of the race in New York’s 23rd. That’s the story."
Re-load.