Fiorina Struggles to Attract Social Conservatives

From the Los Angeles Times, "Fiorina, Targeting Boxer, is Still Cultivating Her Base":

As Senate candidate Carly Fiorina spoke to a standing-room-only meeting of local Republicans here, she hit familiar points -- her rise to become leader of Hewlett-Packard, her "common sense" approach to fixing the nation's economy and her pledge to give incumbent Barbara Boxer the fight of her life.

Amid all the fiscal talk, Fiorina dropped in a line about her conservative social beliefs.

"Barbara Boxer has never faced a candidate like me. . . . I will not permit her, for example, just to assume that all the women of California will vote for her," Fiorina told hundreds of people crowded in a hotel ballroom. "I say this as a proud pro-life conservative who believes marriage is between a man and a woman."

The fact that Fiorina felt compelled to detail her views on abortion and same-sex marriage underscores one of her greatest challenges as she seeks the Republican nomination: The party's most faithful voters are not convinced she is one of them.

Part of the reason is that, unlike her primary opponents, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine and former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell, Fiorina is an unknown political quantity. She has never sought election to public office before now, so she doesn't have a paper trail of legislation, statements and votes.

More than that, Fiorina's own words threaten to undermine her efforts to forge an image in the Senate race, which is getting national attention.

Her prepared speeches and written statements on taxes, federal spending and the deficit are consistently conservative. But when asked about nonfiscal issues, she sometimes veers into more moderate territory.

She said last week that she supported President Obama's effort to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," the policy excluding openly gay individuals from military service.

The week before that, when asked for an assessment of the president's first year in office, she said that although she disagreed with him on the economy and the decision to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, "I agree with many of the things he's done. . . . I think that he is doing everything he can to keep the nation safe and I applaud him for that."

That same week, a recording emerged of Fiorina praising the Rev. Jesse Jackson and saying that the nation will not be a "truly representative democracy" until women make up half or more of elected officials. Conservative pundits pounced, and people are still angry.

Fiorina said she stands by her statements. Although she disagrees politically with Jackson, she said, she applauds his efforts to highlight opportunities in Silicon Valley for minorities and the poor. On the matter of female politicians, she disputed suggestions that she was calling for quotas but said she believes that a true meritocracy would logically lead to more women in politics, business and other fields.

"We're better off as an industry and a nation if everybody gets to play," she said.

Fiorina said she finds the focus on such remarks "bizarre" and blamed DeVore's underdog campaign for their dissemination.

"His campaign strategy seems to be to misrepresent me," she said.

The article notes that these vulnerabilities could take a toll on Fiorina's campaign, and I hope so. See, "Carly Fiorina: The Next Dede Scozzafava?" Also, "McCain-Backed GOP Senate Candidate Carly Fiorina Hearts Jesse Jackson — and Radical Gender Politics."