California: Fiorina, Still Mulling, Launches Web Site

Posted September 23, 2009 at 6:04pm

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (R) is keeping the suspense going a little longer as she contemplates whether to challenge Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) in 2010.

Fiorina this week launched a striking Web site that says almost nothing but suggests that a “Carly vs. Boxer— contest may be “coming soon.— It also features the catchphrase “Carlyfornia Dreamin’,— which Fiorina seems determined to use frequently assuming she runs.

Still, while she has created an exploratory committee and is raising money for a Senate bid, there is some question as to whether Fiorina will ultimately pull the trigger. According to the Sacramento Bee, she is not planning to attend the semiannual California Republican convention this weekend.

And Fiorina continues to be hit hard by Democrats. In his blog on California politics, Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio recently noted all the bad publicity Fiorina has received over her tenure at H-P and her failure to vote in several elections, among other things, and said the rollout of her candidacy has been one of the worst he can remember. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee produced a Web video this week that accuses Fiorina of cutting 30,000 jobs at H-P while pocketing a $20 million severance.

“Let’s hope this is standard operating procedure for the rest of her campaign,— Maviglio wrote. “Because so far, she’s an opp researcher’s dream candidate.—

Meanwhile, the political action committee of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association this week bestowed its Senate endorsement on state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who is already seeking the Republican nomination.

“With numerous bailouts and endless government goodies now being doled out in our Nation’s capitol, we can count on Chuck to go to Washington and take a stand for taxpayers,— Jon Coupal, the association’s president, said in a statement.

Jarvis was the man who engineered Proposition 13, the anti-tax ballot measure in California that became law 31 years ago and limits the state government’s ability to raise and spend revenues.