Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina enters race to oust Barbara Boxer from US Senate seat
By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press Writer
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. November 4, 2009 (AP) The Associated Press
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FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2008, file photo Carly Fiorina, former chairwoman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard...
FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2008, file photo Carly Fiorina, former chairwoman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. speaks at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. After months of speculation but few public appearances, Fiorina was expected to announce her plans Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, for the U.S. Senate seat held by liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer of California. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
(AP)Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday she is running for the chance to seize liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer's U.S. Senate seat, depicting the three-term Democrat as a Capitol Hill do-nothing who penned novels while jobs vanished and government spending soared.
The former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO's entry into the race could present California's junior senator with her most formidable re-election challenge, but Fiorina first will have to survive what could become a scalding Republican primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly to court GOP voters.
Fiorina described herself Wednesday as a Republican devoted to low taxes and tightfisted budgets and "a political newcomer who actually knows how to get something done."
"What do you say that come next year, we give Barbara Boxer the chance to become a full-time novelist?" Fiorina told an invited audience in Orange County, a traditional GOP stronghold.
"Let's start with living within our means. The rest of us do. Why not Washington?" she asked. She promised not to support higher taxes until Congress learns to spend responsibly.
Fiorina's announcement comes a day after Republicans took control of governors' seats from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, but Fiorina did not allude to those contests.
Boxer is no beloved figure in California, but she easily won re-election in 1998 and 2004. Any Republican will come to the contest with disadvantages in left-leaning California: Democrats hold a 13-percentage-point registration advantage, President Barack Obama carried the state in November by 24 points, and both of California's U.S. Senate seats have been in Democratic hands since the early 1990s.
California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton mocked Fiorina as "yet another millionaire neophyte in search of a new hobby," an apparent reference to former eBay Inc. CEO Meg Whitman, a Republican running for governor.
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