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Fiorina jumps in high-profile California Senate race
Wed Nov 4, 2009 /
Politics
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 is expected to make the announcement at an event in Orange County on Wednesday, setting off a race that could again cause public division within the Republican Party. In an opinion piece in the Orange Country Register, Fiorina said the cycle of "tax, spend and borrow" needs to be broken and pledged to forge consensus on a host of issues. "Throughout my career I've brought people together, and I've solved problems. And that is what is needed in our government today," she said. "People who are willing to set aside ego and partisanship and instead work to develop solutions to our problems. "As I grew throughout my career, beginning as a secretary and eventually becoming a CEO, I saw how government impacted business," Fiorina also said. "I learned more as a member of advisory boards at the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA. 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." 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. In a friendly statement Wednesday, DeVore said he looks forward "to engaging [her] on the issues Californians care about." A recent Field poll suggested that both Fiorina and DeVore polled at about 20 percent, with 60 percent of Republican voters undecided. The ex-Fortune 500 CEO, who left Hewlett-Packard in 2005 with a severance package estimated to be worth between $21.5 million and $40 million, is expected to enjoy a significant financial advantage over DeVore, who entered October with just $144,000 in the bank. The Fiorina-DeVore matchup has all the makings of another Republican battle between the conservative wing of the party and national leaders seeking the most electable candidate. Fiorina has claimed that the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee is backing her bid, though an NRSC spokesman said no official endorsement has been made. Still, NRSC Chairman John Cornyn pointed to Fiorina in September as an example of a "strong female candidate" running as a Republican in 2010. A string of conservative bloggers have lined up behind DeVore, and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint said Tuesday that he was backing the assemblyman. The winner of that race will face three-term Sen. Barbara Boxer in November. Boxer's favorable rating stood at 48 percent in a recent Field poll, a number that gives Republicans hope she is vulnerable against a well-funded opponent. Though spending most of her life outside of politics, Fiorina is no stranger to the campaign trail, having served as one of then-Republican presidential candidate John McCain's chief surrogates in 2008. Fiorina was eventually sidelined from that campaign after telling an interviewer that she didn't think either member of the GOP presidential ticket was qualified to run a major company.In an election season in which the state's economic condition is set to dominate the debate, Fiorina is now the second high-profile former CEO running for statewide office in California. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman announced last month she is running for governor.
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