Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, has stated she will “likely” launch a 2016 presidential campaign for the Republican nomination. Fiorina previously has run unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in California, but recently ignited interest after she spoke in January at the Iowa Freedom Summit. Fiorina isn’t entirely a stranger to presidential politics having served as an adviser to John McCain during his 2008 presidential bid.
Report from CNN:
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said Thursday it’s “looking more likely” that she’ll run for president in 2016, though she acknowledged she faces challenges in the wide-open Republican presidential primary field.
In an interview on Boston Herald Radio, Fiorina said her primary concern right now is introducing herself to voters, and raising enough money to compete.
“Of course people don’t know me and they need to get to know me,” Fiorina said. “Do we need to raise money? Yes. Do we need to raise as much money as Jeb Bush? No.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s team has telegraphed plans to raise $100 million in the first quarter of the year, an eye-popping sum intended to discourage some of his potential GOP opponents from the race. Fiorina said, however, she believes there are other ways to compete.
“Money is important, but money is not everything, and I actually think good, old-fashioned, on-the-ground, reach-out politics counts for a lot,” she said.
Her announcement late last year of her interest in the potential 2016 race surprised many political watchers, as she’s never held public office, and made just one run at it, a failed challenge to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010. Since announcing, she’s hired staff and is headed to New Hampshire later this month, with an announcement of her decision reportedly planned for May.
If she were to jump in the race, Fiorina could likely self-fund to some degree, as she did during her 2010 run for Senate.
Fiorina has many strengths but she faces several hurdles, which she identified, such as name recognition and finding major sources of funding. She’s not even a blip in any primary poll I’ve seen but that would change, presumably, if she made an announcement. Assuming her views hasn’t changed since 2010 when she ran for senate, she considers herself pro-life and holds very conservative views on other topics such as the economy and national defense.
It really would be interesting to see her compete as not only an outsider from the political world, but also as a woman who has toppled many glass-ceiling hurdles in the business world.
