The results rolled out yesterday, finding to (hopefully) nobody's surprise that DiFi "stomps the field." The full pdf of results are here, where PPP doubled down on the dire, declaring "No hope for Whitman, Fiorina, Arnold, anyone."
Before abandoning us for the Emerald City, Robert had an excellent series breaking down the long-term realignment that's settling in in California, and these PPP numbers certainly reflect that. But it goes beyond simply an overwhelming lead for DiFi due to her perpetually superhuman support. PPP, through their own calculations and twitter suggestions, couldn't come up with a single potential Republican candidate that hasn't already run a statewide campaign.
And of all those tested- Tom Campbell, Carly Fiorina, Darrell Issa, Steve Poizner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meg Whitman- only Campbell managed a net positive approval rating (+3). And he only pulled that off by being notably less known than the rest of the field.
Arnold's at negative 40. eMeg a solid minus-22 and Fiorina at minus-19. A bare majority have an opinion of Steve Poizner, putting him at 13 points to the negative. And of the 48% who have an opinion of Darrell Issa, it's an unfavorable one by a 2-1 margin.
In other words, it's impossible to run statewide as a Republican without alienating people faster than you win them over. It hasn't just left all recent GOP contenders in a deep hole, but it should scare off anyone thinking of using a doomed DiFi challenge as a boost to higher office- just running statewide from the right is a career-ender. The half-dozen California Republicans with leadership positions in the House have no reason to come back and end their careers, and the new House members ought to see these numbers as reason not to bother.
It's a cycle that'll feed on itself as long as the Republican party is set on a dead-ender agenda of hyper-conservative purity.
Barbara Boxer won by about nine points, but that's not for lack of trying of the right-wing interests to boot her out. Over at California Watch, Chase Davis takes a look at the IEs against Boxer:
The Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United ruling earlier this year helped major corporations and other interest groups spend more than $5 million on California's Senate race without disclosing their contributors, according to independent spending reports analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Ten months ago, when the high court handed down Citizens United, effectively allowing businesses and trade groups to contribute unlimited sums to federal elections, the punditocracy was eager to predict an unprecedented flood of secret interest-group cash that would soon flow into competitive elections nationwide.
Many of those predictions have come true. In the months since, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has emerged as exhibit A in the ruling's predicted consequences, contributing millions of dollars to primarily Republican candidates while taking advantage of new legal covers to keep the sources of its contributions secret. (CalWatch)
In all, there was about eleven million dollars of these direct campaign ads lobbed up against Boxer. You can be the judge on effectiveness, perhaps they did move the needle a little bit. But in the end, I guess it is just as well that this money was spent in California, rather than other races. The Chamber's five million bucks in secret money are the most egregious, and there should be disclosure rules, but the money isn't going to slow without some sort of constitutional amendment to bring our democracy back to, you know, democracy rather than plutocracy.
But in California we have essentially had the Citizens United Scheme for years now. While we have a more robust disclosure system than the federal government now has, we have allowed essentially unlimited independent expenditures in state races. This is of course the reason that you see many races where IEs outspend both major candidates. It is why we have been stuck with a legislature dominated by one interest group or another dating back to Hiram Johnson's era.
It hasn't worked particularly well in California, and Citizens United only added to the inordinate power of the wealthy. With the DISCLOSE act flailing in Congress, don't expect any major changes anytime soon.
This is the last part of a series of posts analyzing competitive Senate elections in blue states. It is the second section of two posts focusing on the greatest state in the union (otherwise known as California). The first part of the series can be found here.
Suburban SoCal
Southern California (SoCal, in short) is where the battle for California will be won or lost. Ms. Fiorina must accomplish two tasks in the region.
First, she must clean the clock in the suburban counties outside Los Angeles.
Here is Part 2 of my analysis of this fall's elections in California, which will cover the Congressional races. Part 3 will cover the state legislature.
Incumbents are in boldface. In the case of open seats, the party of the retiring incumbent is listed without boldface.
D: Democratic
R: Republican
L: Libertarian
G: Green
AI: American Independent
PF: Peace and Freedom
SW: Socialist Workers
I: Independent
Senator:: Barbara Boxer (D) vs. ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina (R), Duane Roberts (G), Gail Lightfoot (L), Edward Noonan (AI), Marsha Feinland (PF), James Harris (SW-W/I)
Even after Arnold decided against running, and long before "Coakley" became a verb, I expected Boxer to be in a tough fight in 2010. Fortunately, she is no slacker and knows how to run a tough campaign, hitting her opponent where it hurts (in this case, on attacking Fiorina's praise of outsourcing and using former HP employees). She is polarizing, but fortunately the Democratic base in California is big enough for her to win even if she loses independent voters by single to low-double digits.
Outlook: Lean Boxer
U.S. HOUSE (Composition: 34 Democrats, 19 Republicans)
CA-03 (Sacramento suburbs): Dan Lungren (R) vs. Dr. Ami Bera (D), Art Tuma (L), Lerry Leidecker (AI), Mike Roskey (PF)
Registration: 40.31% GOP, 37.55% DEM, 17.72% DTS, 4.42% other
Profile: This is one of the Democrats' best chances of picking off a GOP-held seat in the House. This suburban Sacramento seat was strongly Republican early in the decade before rapidly swinging left to become an Obama-voting district in 2008, also nearly catching Lungren off-guard. Bera has outraised Lungren every quarter this cycle, and don't be surprised to see this as one of the closest races in a GOP-held seat.
10/23/2010 Outlook: Toss-up/tilt Lungren
CA-11 (San Joaquin County and parts of East Bay): Jerry McNerney (D) vs. attorney David Harmer (R), David Christensen (AI)
Registration: 39.45% DEM, 39.00% GOP, 17.54% DTS, 4.01% Other
Profile: This was expected since the end of the last cycle to be another challenging race for McNerney, especially after Harmer won the primary. Harmer, as you may remember, made the 2009 special in the more Democratic CA-10 a 10-point race against Garamendi. Fortunately for Harmer, the 11th is much less Democratic and he now has more name recognition. Unfortunately for Harmer, the race in CA-11 will be in a general election rather than an off-year special, so turnout is guaranteed to be higher. Also, the trends in registration are more in McNerney's favor, flipping to a Dem advantage in registration for the first time, mirroring the trend to the Dems statewide in registration.
10/23/2010 Outlook: Lean McNerney
CA-18 (Upper Central Valley): Dennis Cardoza (D) vs. agribusinessman Mike Berryhill (R)
CA-20 (Fresno, part of Bakersfield): Jim Costa (D) vs. farmer Andy Vidak (R)
CA-18 Registration: 49.85% DEM, 31.81% GOP, 14.32% DTS, 4.02% Other
CA-20 Registration: 51.45% DEM, 31.02% GOP, 12.64% DTS, 4.89% Other
Profile: Not on anybody's radar screens until about a month ago, the Central Valley is now the source of two more competitive races, with water a hot issue here and the Republicans harping the issue nonstop. The 18th is less Democratic than the 20th, owing to the lack of a major urban center, having gone for Bush narrowly in 2004, but Cardoza is taking his tougher-than-expected reelection more seriously, so I expect Costa to have a slightly tougher reelection than Cardoza.
CA-18 10/23/2010 Outlook: Likely Cardoza
CA-20 10/23/2010 Outlook: Lean to Likely Costa
CA-44 (Riverside, Corona, San Clemente): Ken Calvert (R) vs. educator Bill Hedrick (D)
Registration: 43.11% GOP, 33.87% DEM, 18.38% DTS, 4.64% Other
Profile: One of the out-of-nowhere near-upsets of 2008, Hedrick is back for a rematch. Calvert is trying to avoid being caught asleep at the wheel again, and Hedrick is surprisingly lacking in the money department despite coming very close last time, so I don't like his chances this time.
10/23/2010 Outlook: Lean to Likely Calvert
CA-45 (Most of Riverside County): Mary Bono Mack (R) vs. Palm Springs mayor Steve Pougnet (D), Bill Lussenheide (AI)
Registration: 41.29% GOP, 38.31% DEM, 16.17% DTS, 4.23% Other
Profile: Democrats got a top-tier recruit here in the openly gay mayor of Palm Springs. Bono Mack has taken heat for her vote against repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, even though her district has the highest proportion of gays of any Republican-held district, and Lussenheide is challenging her from the right, on some of her "insufficiently conservative" votes such as cap-and-trade. I expect Pougnet to perform better than Bornstein last time, though still come up short.
10/23/2010 Outlook: Likely Bono Mack
CA-47 (Anaheim, Santa Ana): Loretta Sanchez (D) vs. Assemblyman Van Tran (R), Ceci Iglesias (I), Gary Schank (I)
Registration: 46.90% DEM, 30.90% GOP, 18.67% DTS, 3.53% Other
Profile: Like the Central Valley Dem districts, the Orange County Dem district, which also voted for Bush like CA-18, is now a hot race after being off most radar screens until about a month ago. Sanchez didn't help herself by the gaffe "The Vietnamese are after my seat", which I thought was really boneheaded, considering all that she had done for them in the past. I still expect Sanchez to win, though by less than against Tan Nguyen from 2006.
10/23/2010 Outlook: Lean to Likely Sanchez
CA-48 (Central Orange County, including Irvine): John Campbell (R) vs. Irvine Councilwoman Beth Krom (D), Mike Binkley (L)
Registration: 44.41% GOP, 28.99% DEM, 22.45% DTS, 4.15% Other
Profile: Once expected to be a top-tier race, this district fell off the radar screen as the touted former mayor of Irvine Beth Krom has lagged on the money front.
10/23/2010 Outlook:Likely Campbell
Safe:
CA-01 (North Coast): Mike Thompson (D) CA-02 (Northern Sacramento Valley): Wally Herger (R) CA-04 (Northeast, including Tahoe): Tom McClintock (R) CA-05 (Sacramento): Doris Matsui (D) CA-06 (Northern SF Bay): Lynn Woolsey (D) CA-07 (Northeast SF Bay): George Miller (D) CA-08 (San Francisco): Nancy Pelosi (D) CA-09 (Berkeley, Oakland): Barbara Lee (D) CA-10 (Inner East SF Bay): John Garamendi (D) CA-12 (Lower SF Peninsula): Jackie Speier (D) CA-13 (Southern East Bay): Pete Stark (D) CA-14 (Silicon Valley): Anna Eshoo (D) CA-15 (Santa Clara, Cupertino): Mike Honda (D) CA-16 (San Jose): Zoe Lofgren (D) CA-17 (Northern Central Coast): Sam Farr (D) CA-19 (Yosemite, part of Fresno): Jeff Denham (R) - vacated by George Radanovich (R) CA-21 (Tulare): Devin Nunes (R) CA-22 (Bakersfield): Kevin McCarthy (R) CA-23 (Southern Central Coast): Lois Capps (D) CA-24 (Inner Santa Barbara/Ventura): Elton Gallegly (R) CA-25 (Palmdale, Big Empty): Buck McKeon (R) CA-26 (Northeastern L.A. suburbs): David Dreier (R) CA-27 (Western San Fernando Valley): Brad Sherman (D) CA-28 (Eastern San Fernando Valley): Howard Berman (D) CA-29 (Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena): Adam Schiff (D) CA-30 (Malibu, Beverly Hills): Henry Waxman (D) CA-31 (Hollywood): Xavier Becerra (D) CA-32 (Covina, Baldwin Park): Judy Chu (D) CA-33 (Culver City): Karen Bass (D) - vacated by Diane Watson (D) CA-34 (Downtown L.A.): Lucille Roybal-Allard (D) CA-35 (South Central): Maxine Waters (D) CA-36 (Beach Cities): Jane Harman (D) CA-37 (South Central, Long Beach): Laura Richardson (D) CA-38 (Southeastern L.A. suburbs): Grace Napolitano (D) CA-39 (Southeastern L.A. County): Linda Sánchez (D) CA-40 (Northern Orange County): Ed Royce (R) CA-41 (Most of San Bernardino County): Jerry Lewis (R) CA-42 (Chino, Brea): Gary Miller (R) CA-43 (Ontario, San Bernardino): Joe Baca (D) CA-46 (Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, Palos Verdes): Dana Rohrabacher (R) CA-49 (Temecula, Oceanside): Darrell Issa (R) CA-50 (Northern San Diego suburbs): Brian Bilbray (R) CA-51 (Imperial County, southern SD suburbs): Bob Filner (D) CA-52 (Eastern San Diego suburbs): Duncan D. Hunter (R) CA-53 (San Diego): Susan Davis (D)
This is the part of a series of posts analyzing competitive Senate elections in blue states. It will focus on California. Because California is such a big and complicated state, it will have two sections - of which this is the first. The second part can be found here.
California, Section 1
In the greatest state of the union, a fierce senatorial battle is brewing. Former HP executive Carly Fiorina is mounting a tough challenge to incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. In an anti-Democratic national environment, polls show the race close and competitive. This post will examine the obstacles Ms. Fiorina will face as she seeks to overcome California's formidable Democratic geography.
As America's most populous state, California contains a number of distinct regions. This post, and the one following, will examine each.
Fasten your seatbelts: EMILY's List is going all out in these last two weeks before the election for Sen. Barbara Boxer, one of our strongest progressive advocates. Our WOMEN VOTE! project in California is hitting the airwaves and reaching out to women voters to spread the truth about Carly Fiorina: she'd be disastrous for women and for California.
This race is a dead heat for one reason and one reason alone: women voters don't have the information they need about Carly Fiorina. From her courtship of the Tea Party and Sarah Palin to her catastrophic tenure at HP - and her unwillingness to make job creation a priority - Carly Fiorina's real agenda would be devastating to women and their families in California and throughout the country.
Team EMILY, our new volunteer program, will have over 400 women making calls to potential drop-off women voters throughout California. Why? Our research makes it clear: these women voters need trusted information and explanation of why their votes matter. They need to know about Carly's extreme agenda: repealing health care reform and taking away women's rights to make their own health care choices.
Our effort, talking to voters and getting on TV, highlights Carly's long record of failure: axing 33,000 jobs while at HP; shipping nearly 10,000 jobs overseas; and floating away with a $42 million golden parachute after getting fired and leaving her company in tatters. "Opera," our hard-hitting ad that shows voters Carly's true colors, will be airing largely in LA, including shows like Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, Judge Judy, Dancing With the Stars, Dr. Phil, Letterman, and evening news programs. Watch our spot for yourself:
Today was the second Boxer-Fiorina debate, and though they weren't in the same room, it was still rather lively. Shane Goldmacher has a good recap of the issues discussed.
Once again, Carly Fiorina had very little of substance for the people. Oh, but she does want to end the right of women to control their own health decisions and apparently Sen. Boxer is in the pocket of "Big Enviro" b/c there is such a thing. Who knew? It's almost like there are multiple big environmental organizations making billions of dollars trying to maintain the status quo...oh, wait, that's Big Oil. It's hard to keep track.
A bit of news on the horse race front today. A new poll from CNN has good numbers for Brown and Boxer:
According to a CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday, 52 percent of likely voters in the Golden State say they support Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, with 43 percent backing Republican challenger Carly Fiorina. ...
In the fight for governor, the poll indicates that 52 percent of likely voters back California Attorney General and former Gov. Jerry Brown, the Democratic nominee, with 43 percent supporting former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, the GOP nominee.
The interesting thing to note here is that both candidates are now over that magical 50% figure. The last week has been kind to Democratic candidates across the nation, as Democrats are beginning to wake up from their slumber and realize that there is an election about to happen. Here in California, Boxer and Brown have both fairly well consolidated their bases, and the big push now is to get them to the polls.
With Meg Whitman having a lovefest with Texas on the debate last night, and Carly Fiorina hanging out with the Tea party at every conceivable chance, the question is how the two Republicans plan on getting the middle. They simply cannot win with the base alone in California. They are each rapidly turning off California's middle.
Much is finally being written about the money behind the candidates as well as the initiatives these days. Finally I say because money buys word-smithing and that buys people's hearts and minds. Not that the ideas propelling the candidates and ballot measures couldn't do that on their merits, but it's the money that motivates these self-serving people/corporations. Money pays for the glib sound-bites that become the message and the PR firms that then shape the opinions and alas, the votes of an often unsuspecting electorate.
With all the money being poured into our elections this year, and the misdirection of the voters, it is not hard to understand that the Republicans are poised to recoup most, if not all of their lost gains from the 2008 election that catapulted Barack Obama and the Democrats into power. What IS hard to understand, is how the American people are looking to these very same people, with the very same ideas that put our communities, our state, our nation and even the world on the brink of economic disaster.
First, as you would expect, both candidates are doing similarly well within their own party, hovering in the upper 70s. But while nonpartisans are split at the Governor level, Boxer holds a 6 point lead here, 46-40.
But what is worth noting is that while Carly Fiorina hasn't really inspired anybody, Sen. Boxer gets people moving one way or the other. 2/3 of her supporters are voting for her, for her. Meanwhile, over 60% of Carly's supporters are motivated by their dislike for the incumbent. In California, Boxer has been an occasional lightening rod, but one thing that you can say for her is that she has the support of the grassroots base. What is expected and nurtured in the Republican party, is typically shunned within the Democratic Party. But Senator Boxer embraces the grassroots. She supports marriage equality, and has worked passionately for years on the climate crisis. She is giving Democrats something to fight for.
Meanwhile, Carly Fiorina's unfavorables continue to rise. Since July she has hovered at 34% positive, but her unfavorables have grown from 29 to 38. There is still a lot of room for growth with 28% undecided, but California voters have not liked what they have heard about the failed CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
Call me shocked, just shocked to find that there's gambling with California's future in this election.
The state legislator responsible for placing Proposition 23, the anti-climate measure, on the ballot is...a climate zombie. And one of Proposition 23's out of state dirty energy supporters, Koch Industries, Patient Zero of the climate zombie infection is holding a fundraiser Thursday night for climate zombie Senate wannabe Carly Fiorina.
WWMWD? Will Meg Whitman endorse Proposition 23 and its oil-soaked supporters, or will she join the forward-thinking California businesses who urge a no vote?
While Meg Whitman was hobnobbing with Condi, Carly Fiorina is getting ready to do a big fundraiser in DC tomorrow. It's being headlined by that Tremendous Trio of Senators McConnell, Cornyn and Kyl. What a bunch. But the more interesting message comes on that left hand column, where just near the bottom comes "Koch Industries PAC." More from Talking Points Memo:
Republican Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina will attend a high-dollar fundraiser Thursday night that includes Koch Industries PAC, a conservative megadonor that has been the subject of some high-profile magazine pieces of late.
The Koch brothers have become conservative super-villains for Democrats this year, igniting Democrats in the same way George Soros' spending on liberal causes enrages the right. ... Koch has a storied history. TPM has followed the brothers' involvement in funding tea party groups, among other conservative causes.
Is there any doubt about Carly Fiorina left. She favors Prop 23, and decimating our climate regulations. She is in the pocket of the Tea Party funders and Big Coal. She wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. She is a fan of "right-shoring" American jobs oversees, and will continue to favor and advocate for that. Oh, and yeah, she was fired for poor performance at HP.
California, Carly Fiorina is unqualified, and all wrong on all the issues.
Even your standard right-wing Carly fan has to accept one thing, they are going to spend the next 6+ weeks trying to defend the record of a failed CEO. Over the flip you'll find a long listing of remarks, mostly from right-wing business types about just how bad she really was. I'll skip past much of the list of ranking her in the top 10 or top 20 worst CEOs of all time, to something said in a book by Steve Forbes:
"Examples of business leaders who rise to the heights of corporate power only to be brought down by their egos include Dennis Kozlowski, the former CEO of Tyco, and Carly Fiorina, former head of Hewlett-Packard." - Steve Forbes and John Prevas, Power Ambition Glory, Crown Business, 2009, page 7
This is a CEO who, in the words of another right-wing Republican in the form of a former GOP presidential candidate, was too ego-driven to successfully run a company. She was a great self-promoter, but not so much on the actually getting the job done at HP thing. The board hated her, after all she was spying on some of them. The employees hated her, she laid off thousands of them, so no surprise there. And, oh yeah, the stock value of HP halved while she was the CEO.
Certainly we can agree that the last thing California needs is somebody too concerned about their own ego to focus on the very real problems we have to deal with today.
And this ad by Senator Boxer does nothing other than turning a mirror on Carly Fiorina's career. She's running as the former CEO of HP, so she has to face those facts. She was fired as CEO, and as David W. Packard, a son of one of the founders of HP, said, nobody has hired her since.
Let's not let Carly Fiorina use the Senate as a rebound gig.
When I first heard that this would be the "year of the woman" in politics, naturally my ears perked up. I welcomed the Republican women running - gender should be no barrier to leadership. But it was what these candidates stand for that concerns me: simply put, some of the very worst ideas and ideals in our country. Repealing health care reform. Privatizing social security. Taking away reproductive rights. And shipping jobs overseas.
But that's just the beginning: they talk about being constitutional conservatives, but it turns out they just want to scrap the parts they don't like. They stand with BP in the wake of the gulf disaster, and they say that unemployment insurance is unconstitutional. This isn't about partisanship-these candidates are too extreme for any party. And what they all have in common? One Sarah Palin.
Sarah Palin predicts a rising tide of women voters, but we know that the rising tide of women voters this year want more opportunity for their children, more stability for their families, more accountability for Wall Street. None of that is on the agenda of Sarah Palin or her candidates like Carly Fiorina. Carly laid off tens of thousands of people, many of them families right here in California. Carly, like Sarah Palin, wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending decades long independence for women, turning back the clock on our reproductive freedom and criminalizing doctors.
Like Sarah Palin, Carly sees no value in health care reform. She opposes pragmatic efforts to reduce pollution. She dismisses the significant threat of global warming. Carly called offshore drilling extremely safe-even after the BP disaster. Heck, she wants to drill right off your coast here, in California. That is the kind of radical agenda that California, and the nation, cannot tolerate.
Check out our latest video - featuring residents of California - talking about Carly Fiorina and Sarah Palin's radical agenda.
In 1994, 16 million women stayed home from the polls - and we know what happened then. There is no time to waste. Replacing Barbara Boxer in the Senate with radical, right-wing Carly Fiorina would have devastating consequences for California, for the country, and for women in communities near and far. We need to build relentless momentum leading up to election day so that women in California know who Carly Fiorina is - and know that, like Sarah Palin, Carly Fiorina does not speak for them.
We're proud to be working with individuals and partners throughout California on California Women Vote - we'll be doing cutting edge research and communicating on television, in the mail, and person-to-person - ensuring that women voters know the truth about Carly's record and her radical agenda.
This is not going to be 1994. We are not going to wake up on Wednesday, November 3rd knowing that we lost champions like Barbara Boxer because 16 million of us stayed home. We've got to put our shoulders to the wheel together to make sure that women - and men! - who reject the extreme radicalism of Carly Fiorina and Sarah Palin go the polls on Election Day. Because there is no second chance here.
Carly Fiorina is the guest of honor at a tea party rally today in Marin. While she has apparently closed the event to the press, it is open to the public! And it is free! So, come one, come all, and learn about Carly's plans for mocking climate change, and her support for overturning Roe v Wade. And you know, bring your cell phones, flip cameras, audio recording devices. Now, I'm not telling you to break any rules, but you know, it is a public event and everything.
Of course, Carly is trying to play both sides of the tea party coin, by officially closing the event to press:
Just when we were wondering what -- if any role -- the Tea Party would play in statewide California races this fall we hear that US Senate candidate Carly Fiorina will be meeting with Tea Party grassrootsers and GOPers at noon Friday in Mill Valley at the Mill Valley Community Center.
Billed in the invite as "your opportunity to hear Carly speak and get your questions answered!" it's sponsored by the Bay Area Patriots and San Francisco Tea Party, the Marin GOP and Novato Republican Women, Federated.
We'd love to tell you about it, but it is billed as "open to the public -- closed to the press." What's up with that? Not very transparent, which is what the TP wants of government, no?(SF Gate)
Ooh, and you can buy a delicious turkey sandwich for $10! If you are near Mill Valley, definitely stop by.
Carly Fiorina made a pilgrimage to the land of my people this weekend, certainly an interesting development with just over eight weeks left in the campaign. (By the way, L'shanah tova!)
For the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, what happens in the Holy Land, apparently stays in the Holy Land. Fiorina had told an Israeli business magazine that she wanted to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. But there hasn't been a peep out of the Israeli press about any meeting between Fiorina and top officials in Israel.
Nor is Fiorina's campaign saying bupkis about the getaway. A campaign spokeswoman says, "This was a personal trip for Carly, so it had nothing to do with the campaign."
Over at the Republican Jewish Coalition, which was approached by Fiorina to arrange and fund the trip, they didn't see anything campaign-like in the visit.(Daily Beast)
So, why exactly did she decide to take a vacation that is half a world away. It's not like there aren't relaxing vacation spots in the Golden State where she could get away and do a bit of relaxation. But contrary to Fiorina's campaign, this was completely about the senate race. It is especially hard to argue otherwise when she asked the Republican Jewish Coalition to pay for it. It's not like she doesn't have enough money to pay for a couple of first class tickets to Ben Gurion airport.
But while there is part of the typical foreign policy education component here, with Carly there is the question of her sales to Iran hanging over the whole foreign policy debate. While Carly likes to claim that she had no knowledge of the Iranian sales, she was either purposefully sticking her head in the sand in order to get the money from Iranian sales or she was a terrible CEO who didn't know what her company was doing. As Chuck DeVore pointed out in the primary, there are simply too many questions here left unanswered.
I hope that Ms. Fiorina's trip to Israel is a safe and enjoyable visit, but a few days in Jerusalem hardly changes her record in the Middle East. Over the flip find a letter from several Jewish leaders in Los Angeles regarding her trip.
There is a lot of work to do between now and November 2, but right now we are pretty much looking at an even race:
It's too close to call in California's Senate and gubernatorial battles, according to a new poll.
A CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday indicates that Sen. Barbara Boxer holds a 48 percent to 44 percent margin over her Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina, but Boxer's 4-point advantage is within the poll's sampling error. Five percent of people questioned say if the general election were held today they'd vote for neither candidate and three percent were undecided. (CNN) Full results (pdf)
Care to see a 1990s style witch hunt against the administration? Well, you are set for a fun ride. Otherwise, it's time to get in gear and work for the Democratic ticket.
At the debate last night, moderator and KTVU political editor Randy Shandobil got frustrated with Fiorina's evasive answers on Prop 23. Apparently the other reporters at the post-debate press conference were getting pretty frustrated with the situation as well.
Well folks, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Carly Fiorina supports Prop 23 and the death of AB 32. She said as much in the debate. When she evaded the answer, she said specifically that it would "make sense to suspend it" or something to that effect. Ladies and germs, that is what Prop 23 is arguing that they want to do. Not sure how much more clear it can be made. She can hem and haw all she wants, but she can't jujitsu this one. She opposes Prop 23, but doesn't want to say as much because that will turn off environmentally minded voters and signal that she isn't some sort of moderate that she is trying to play.
Nope, Carly Fiorina is just another short-sighted CEO who couldn't even manage the short-sighted goals of increasing stock value at HP. She likes to posture, even going so far as hiding her impressive educational resume to build up her "rags to riches" street cred. But, California voters can see through these charades.
Carly Fiorina, the 2010 Republican nominee for the Senate representing California, has launched a strong campaign to lure Latinos under two main premises: 1) She has always been a friend of Latinos 2) she holds the same values as Latinos.
Her campaign has launched a website titled "Amigos de Carly" (Friends of Carly) where she appears in a picture banner surrounded by what appear to be Latino business folks. The conservative group American Principles Project has also summoned millions for her and have launched the campaign titled "Tus Valores" (Your Values) in an attempt to make Fiorina appear as if she has always cared for Latino issues.
The problem is that there is absolutely no way to substantiate this. In fact as recently as the primaries Fiorina was speaking out against many of the issues and "values" that Latinos truly hold dear.
As a response the campaign The Real Carly: "Carly No Es Mi Amiga" (Carly Is Not My Friend) duly points out how Fiorina's attempt to lure Latinos is yet another charade of California GOP candidates who can't hide from their recent anti-Latino words and actions.
As part of this effort, The Real Carly: "Carly No Es Mi Amiga" project has put together a video, a more "adequate" picture banner for Fiorina's site, as well as the following top 5 reasons why Fiorina is not a friend of Latinos:
1. Fiorina pretends to be a friend to Latinos, but her positions on immigration, education and health care put her in direct opposition to the values that Latinos hold dear. DO NOT BE FOOLED, Fiorina is not good for Latinos in California.
2. Carly Fiorina fiercely supports SB 1070 and racial profiling in Arizona. In fact Fiorina was quoted saying, “This law [SB 1070] is necessary because the Federal Government isn’t doing its job and the people in Arizona are in danger.” (Fox News)
3. Carly Fiorina opposed emergency state aide to help teachers for our schools and Medicaid for our community’s poor. The emergency state aid bill saved the jobs of approximately 13,700-16,500 teachers in California and also funded Medicaid programs serving approximately 7 million Californians.*
4. California’s Latinos need a strong economy, and not a job killer CEO Senator with a history of outsourcing jobs and firing thousands of workers. While CEO of HP, Fiorina outsourced jobs and called the move “smartsourcing.” In 2003, she dismissed almost 18,000 people from HP. She had already created job loss in California, and we don’t need her to cause any more.**
5. Carly Fiorina wants to repeal President Obama’s health care bill which would help this nation’s uninsured. ***
I've mentioned the fact that I grew up in Texas on a number of occasions on this blog. In many ways it is a great place to grow up, and in other ways...not as much. For example, you want a world class education from a public university, thank the oil severance tax. Now, if you wanted a functioning local library, you might look elsewhere.
I bring this up on the occasion of a quick youtube video put out by the LA County Democratic Party's CEO Watch. See, Carly Fiorina loves sending jobs everywhere BUT California. Indonesia, Malaysia, China, she's all about "rightshoring."
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