Carly Fiorina Announces Calif. Senate Run

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and McCain Economic Adviser Seeks GOP Bid to Challenge Barbara Boxer

(AP)  Former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Carly Fiorina said Wednesday she is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer of California.

Fiorina ended months of speculation with an announcement in an opinion piece in the Orange County Register. She was expected to make a formal announcement later in the day in Garden Grove.

Her entry into the race could present Boxer with her most formidable re-election challenge, but Fiorina first would have to survive a Republican primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly over the past year to court GOP voters.

"For many years I felt disconnected from the decisions made in Washington and, to be honest, really didn't think my vote mattered because I didn't have a direct line of sight from my vote to a result. I realize that thinking was wrong," Fiorina wrote in her opinion piece.

"I now understand, in a very real way, that the decisions made by the Senate impact every family and every business, of any size, in America. This is what motivates me to run for the U.S. Senate," she wrote.

Fiorina echoed standard Republican complaints that the government taxes, spends and regulates too much.

"Let's put every government budget and every government bill on the Internet for every citizen to see," she wrote.

"Tax, spend and borrow is not a governing philosophy; it's a cycle of dependency and it is one that must be broken," Fiorina wrote. "Washington must show the discipline to cut spending and create policies that encourage and empower businesses to put people back to work."

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Fiorina, who recently completed breast cancer treatment, also called for health care reform - but not in the form of a national health system.

She instead suggested expanding community clinic access and putting stricter restrictions on medical malpractice lawsuits.

The 55-year-old former Silicon Valley executive served as economic adviser to John McCain's failed presidential bid last year, a position that elevated her national profile. Before that, she had a public falling out with HP board members, who fired her in 2005 after she pushed through the company's acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. in a deal that caused job losses and reduced HP's value. The company has since rebounded, but opinions differ over how much credit Fiorina deserves for that.

On the way out, Fiorina received a $21 million severance package - a cash cushion that has made Boxer's team nervous.

Even before her announcement, Boxer used the threat of a Fiorina candidacy to boost her own fundraising, collecting $1.6 million in the last quarter and reporting $6.3 million in the bank last month.

"If Fiorina decides to fund the campaign with her own personal wealth, this could be the most expensive Boxer campaign yet," said Rose Kapolczynski, a spokeswoman for Boxer's campaign. "We could be looking at a $30 million or $35 million campaign. ... She could do a lot to remake her image with that and do a lot to distort the Boxer record."

Boxer, 68, is in her third term in the Senate and easily won re-election in 1998 and 2004. She has long been a target of conservatives - they pounced earlier this year when she chastised a brigadier general who called her "ma'am" during a congressional hearing - but has yet to face a serious re-election challenge.

Until now, Boxer's only announced opposition was DeVore. A military officer and businessman from Irvine, he has been aggressively campaigning on a shoestring budget for months, styling himself as the only true conservative in the race.

He is appealing to the party's base as the true candidate of limited government, lower taxes and conservative fiscal stewardship.

"American voters want bold colors. They don't want pale pastels," he said.

Fiorina would be the fifth Silicon Valley executive to compete in a statewide race in California next year. All three GOP gubernatorial candidates - former eBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman, state insurance commissioner and high tech entrepreneur Steve Poizner, and former congressman Tom Campbell - have ties to the Valley.

Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer for the popular social networking Web site Facebook, has announced an exploratory bid for the Democratic nomination for attorney general.

[Lollypopguild]

I don't get it. Both Fiorina and Meg Whitman were huge failures as CEOs. (I'll give them credit for breaking the glass ceiling in Silicon Valley boardrooms, but that's about it.) Fiornia was forced out of HP, while Whitman was basically paid to leave E-bay early. This isn't idle speculation or back-biting - all Bay Area eyes were upon them in the early 00's, hoping for them to succeed, yet their mammoth failures were very public and are well-documented. They both got to walk away with the shared crown of being "first," tons of cash and time on their hands, a taste for power ... and apparently the unconditional support of the Republican party. Why are these 2 businesswomen with no record of public service so desperate to break into politics? They'd make more money and wield more influence if they started their own tech companies. (I think we all know the answer to that one.) It bothers me that they both are being marketed so aggressively. The GOP sees the ballot-box symbolism of their skirts, but all I can see is two more Sarah Palins in the making. Please don't let these women buy their way into an office - they are in over their heads.

[jayelle5]

First there was Meg Whitman who wants to be governor although she admits that she couldn't be bothered to vote for the past 20 years or so. Now we have the failed businesswoman Carly Fiorina who suddenly decides that she wants to be a senator. Along with Ms. Palin, examples of ego run totally amok.

[hungry1968-17]

On the plus side, she's not a complete loon like Palin.

[us_1776]

Carly was a complete loser for HP. California would do well to avoid her.

[jwesel1]

She can get all the votes from India where she outsourced HP sotware and hardware development.

[doctor_know]

Nice

[formrusmcsgt]

I haven't visited her site but have read comments that it looks like it was done by a kindergartner.....

[formrusmcsgt]

Might as well - after tanking HP as it's CEO, she won't get another company to run, that's for sure.

[msimamaji]

Let's look at Carly's record. First of all under her leadership, Hewlitt Packard tanked. Thousands of employees lost their jobs,but she got a multi-million dollar Golden Parachute.
She also said "A job is not an American right." That's a nice thing to say in a state with soaring unemployment.
Finally, she wants to rename California, Carlifornia.
Maybe Carly thinks she can fool someone, but she can't fool an Angeleno, like me.

[thesevenveils]

One thing that is prominent in the leaders of the Republican party:
They are all well rewarded for their failures in business and politics. It seems like the biggest failures receive the most laurels from within the party.

Name one person you ask? George W. Bush, and list can go on and on from there and end with guess who? Sarah Palin.

[trglazier]

Wasn't she McCain?s chief economic advisor?

Remember "The US economy is fundamentally strong."

[babooph]

A failed business leader? Lucky for us,govt. runs absolutely nothing like business-the propaganda lie that it should be run "businesslike"has always been a laugh....

[mysteryroche]

I am a staunch Republican but I prefer Pelosi over this knucklehead. OK, maybe that's going a little TOO far but she is almost that bad. In my opinion she's a mental midget and totally self-involved. Truly an empty suit, though she probably thinks her fashion sense will be enough to get her elected. I doubt she even makes it out of the primaries.

[briannorwood]

Let's see. She drove HP into the dirt before she was fired. Will Californians give her the chance to do it again in Congress? Good luck with that!

[bradkt1]

Do you REALLY think that she is going to beat Barbara Boxer in California?

Ha-ha....

[imprisoncheney]

Hope Sister Sarah and Fuehrer Armey "help" her campaign the way they did Doug Hoffman's!

[edgy44]

She could do more good getting experience in the California Senate. She is not ready for Washington DC. Help solve the California budget problem. She is a complete unknown, and people will not vote for her.

[doctor_know]

Fiorina was AWFUL at HP.

"...Less than a month later, board brought back in Tom Perkins and forced Fiorina to resign as chairman and chief executive officer of the company.[32] The company's stock jumped on news of Fiorina's departure.[33] Under the company's agreement with Fiorina which was characterized as a golden parachute by some, she was paid slightly more than twenty million dollars in severance.[34] When Fiorina became CEO in July, 1999, HP's stock price was $52 per share, and when she left 5 years later in February, 2005, it was $21 per share?a loss of over 60% of the stock's value...."

"...Outside judgments on Fiorina's tenure at HP are mixed at best. In 2008, Infoworld grouped her with a list of products and ideas as flops, declaring her to be the "anti-Steve Jobs" as a destroyer of the goodwill of American engineers and as one who alienated existing customers.[40] ... In April 2009, the business magazine web site Condé Nast Portfolio listed Fiorina as one of the "The 20 Worst American CEOs of all time," characterizing the HP-Compaq merger as widely regarded as a failure, and citing the halving of HP's stock value under Fiorina's tenure...."

from wikipedia.

[rightbehind]

Be interesting to know what her salary was at HP. Is she one of those 7000 dollar per hour people while the majority of other employees were taking pay cuts? Makes me wonder what anyone that has never invented a new technology or changed the way people communicate would know that makes them worth that kind of money.

[doctor_know]

Fiorina was AWFUL at HP.

"...Less than a month later, board brought back in Tom Perkins and forced Fiorina to resign as chairman and chief executive officer of the company.[32] The company's stock jumped on news of Fiorina's departure.[33] Under the company's agreement with Fiorina which was characterized as a golden parachute by some, she was paid slightly more than twenty million dollars in severance.[34] When Fiorina became CEO in July, 1999, HP's stock price was $52 per share, and when she left 5 years later in February, 2005, it was $21 per share?a loss of over 60% of the stock's value...."

"...Outside judgments on Fiorina's tenure at HP are mixed at best. In 2008, Infoworld grouped her with a list of products and ideas as flops, declaring her to be the "anti-Steve Jobs" as a destroyer of the goodwill of American engineers and as one who alienated existing customers.[40] ... In April 2009, the business magazine web site Condé Nast Portfolio listed Fiorina as one of the "The 20 Worst American CEOs of all time," characterizing the HP-Compaq merger as widely regarded as a failure, and citing the halving of HP's stock value under Fiorina's tenure...."

from wikipedia.

[stn_sage]

"I now understand, in a very real way, that the decisions made by the Senate impact every family and every business, of any size, in America. This is what motivates me to run for the U.S. Senate," she wrote.
(from article)

That's fine if she wants to run! But, I find it very disconcerting that only NOW...does she understand that decisions made by the Senate impact every family and business in America!

I would have thought...as an adult...as a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard that she ALREADY would be aware of this!? Personally, I hear sirens and warning buzzers going off concerning her candidacy!

What ELSE is she NOW only becoming aware of? And, what has she to learn in the future? Does she understand she's supposed to represent the public or does she think the job is to represent corporate America? Which, she is an 'insider' of?! Does she respect the public? Or, are we rift-raft to 'sell out' to corporate interests?

The electorate needs to take a close look at her, what she says, and what she has done!

[I_am_me1953]

Much rather see her run for Pelosi's seat in the HOR.

[doctor_know]

Why? Fiorina would not stand a chance in SF! She is HATED in the bay area!