Fiorina's Polish Converting Skeptics

The first female head of a Fortune 20 company — and the first to be fired by its board — Carly Fiorina was anything but a dazzler when she debuted on the political stage during the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain in 2008.

But that was then.

Now, Mrs. Fiorina's polished performance in her bid in California to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer is turning heads among influential social and religious conservatives. Win or lose, they say, the former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO's campaign-trail transformation and her political convictions make her a top-of-the ticket contender for the Republican Party down the road.

"Carly Fiorina could easily be a presidential candidate," said Larry K. Burbach, a Burbank advertising executive and social conservative. He was one of many attendees at a recent private gathering of conservatives who were wowed by an address by Mrs. Fiorina.

Besides being impressed by her fiscal know-how — critiquing the state of California's tax structure, environmental regulations and state employees retirement benefits on businesses — they admired her general election strategy of emphasizing her opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, a risky move in a liberal-leaning state.

"Carly Fiorina showed the kind of leadership that we so desperately need," said Beverly LaHaye, chairwoman of Concerned Women for America. "The ovation she received from some of America's leading conservatives said it all."

While former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has parlayed defeat as a vice-presidential candidate in 2008 into a national political platform, a victory by Mrs. Fiorina in the nation's largest state would quickly elevate the former CEO's profile while giving her time to hone her policy and political skills on Capitol Hill.

But first she has to defeat Mrs. Boxer. Polls show Mrs. Boxer, a three-term incumbent Democrat, holding an average 3 percentage point lead, leaving Mrs. Fiorina well within striking distance of becoming the first California Republican elected to the Senate in 22 years.

About 3 percent of voters remain undecided. A poll released over the weekend by Reuters/Ipsos had Mrs. Boxer ahead by 1 percentage point.


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