Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina found herself in hot water with conservatives on Friday after she remarked that democracy won't be "truly representative" until "at least" half of elected officials are women.

In a speech earlier this week that became public on Friday, Fiorina also fondly recalled the Rev. Jesse Jackson — a controversial figure across the political spectrum but anathema to many on the right — "very graciously" visiting her at HP years ago, when the two worked together to boost diversity among Silicon Valley's work force.
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What a shocker!

This is racial and gender identity politics driven by the desperate Chuck DeVore campaign.

Her comments are innocuous and par for the course for a corporate CEO and woman politician.

A new Field Poll shows former congressman Tom Campbell (R-San Mateo) beating fellow Republicans Cary Fiorina and termed-out Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) for the party bid to face Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in the fall. The poll breaks down like this:

Campbell: 30 percent
Fiorina: 25 percent
DeVore: 6 percent
Undecided: 39 percent
Bunis got no comment to the Field Poll from the DeVore campaign, but she surmised they are clinging to the notion that the teabaggy magic that sprinkled over Scott Brown in Massachusetts could fall on ol' Chuckie as well.
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Got no comment because Chuckles has 6% to show for himself after campaigning for over a year.

Put a fork in DeVore – he is done!

The National Republican Senatorial Committee outraised its Democratic counterpart for the third month in a row in December, bringing in $4.1 million compared with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s $3.4 million.

Despite losing the fourth-quarter cash race, the DSCC still raised more money over the course of 2009 and ended the year with more money in the bank. The Democratic committee brought in about $43.6 million for the year and had $12.5 million in the bank as of Dec. 31, with about $1.2 million in debt. The NRSC brought in $41.2 million on the year had $8.3 million in cash on hand at the end of last month, with no debt.
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GOP fundraising should steadily improve and then there are the corporate independent expenditures that were recently OK'd by the SCOTUS.

The Carly Fiorina campaign's response to Chuck DeVore surrogates Jesse Jackson attacks:

"It goes without saying that as a mainstream conservative, unlike Barbara Boxer, Carly Fiorina strongly disagrees with Jesse Jackson’s political agenda. Her remarks Wednesday were focused on the importance of women recognizing and seizing opportunities to serve in public office where they have an interest in so doing, something we’d hope her opponents would seek to encourage rather than attack. It also isn’t surprising that Carly’s career politician opponents would take issue with the suggestion that they should be replaced with people who have real world experience because are continually failing to represent the interests of the people of this state and country – a fact their dismal approval ratings clearly confirm."
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Klein's painting Fiorina as an anti-semite is pathetic racial commentary and is more of a reflection on Klein than it is Fiorina.

On the strength of about $19 million spent in 2009, Meg Whitman has surged to a 45-17% lead over Steve Poizner in the Republican race for governor and picked up 11 points against Democrat Jerry Brown, who still leads her by 46-36% in a simulated general election match-up, according to the latest Field Poll.

Attorney Gen. Brown, who has not yet formally declared his candidacy for governor, also leads Insurance Commissioner Poizner 48-31% in a general election simulated by the Field Poll, the basic results of which were made available to Calbuzz.*
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Meg Whitman may have to spend every penny to beat Jerry Brown. As far as Poizner goes, I would recommend that he withdraws and runs for re-election.

Rasmussen
1/20/10; 502 likely Republican Primary voters, 4.5% margin of error
Mode: Automated phone
(Ramussen release)

Arizona

2010 Senate: Republican Primary
McCain 53%, Heyworth 31%, Simcox 4%

Favorable / Unfavorable (among Republicans)
John McCain: 74 / 23
J.D. Heyworth: 58 / 25
Chris Simcox: 28 / 33

What a surprise! Tom Campbell recently switched from the Governor’s race to the U.S. Senate race, and now a new poll shows him in the lead, with 30% of the vote, amongst the three Republican candidates.

Campbell is a professor at Chapman University, here in Orange, and he is fairly moderate. So is Carly Fiorina, who earned a fortune working at HP. She is coming in second with 25% of the vote.

And then there is Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. The poor guy has worked his tail off and he is coming in a distant third with 6% of the vote. No matter what he does, he simply cannot get around the fact that he has very low statewide name I.D., and he really hasn’t accomplished anything of note in Sacramento. And, as a staunch social conservative, he is out of step with most California voters.

My sources in Sacramento tell me that DeVore was stunned by this new poll and that he is seriously considering dropping out of the race altogether.
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Chuckles who?

Rasmussen
1/18/10; 1,000 likely voters, 3% margin of error
Mode: Automated phone
(Rasmussen release)

Pennsylvania

2010 Senate
Toomey 49%, Specter 40% (chart)
Toomey 43%, Sestak 35% (chart)

Job Approval / Disapproval
Pres. Obama: 46 / 53 (chart)
Gov. Rendell: 43 / 56 (chart)

Favorable / Unfavorable
Arlen Specter: 43 / 54 (chart)
Pat Toomey: 57 / 27
Joe Sestak: 37 / 37

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling today overturning restrictions on independent spending by corporations and labor unions could have an immediate impact this year in California's U.S. Senate race.

California state campaign finance rules already allow corporations and unions to give directly to independent expenditure campaigns without limits, so the court decision will have little impact on state contests.

But the decision overturns federal rules requiring that corporations and unions establish political action committees, or PACs, to spend on elections. Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies and an architect of California campaign finance rules, said the ruling should have a greater impact for corporations, who have access to more money and have been less adept than unions at navigating PAC rules in the past.
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Should help Carly Fiorina the most.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she lacks the votes to quickly move the Senate's sweeping health overhaul bill through the House, a potentially devastating blow to President Barack Obama's signature issue.

Pelosi, D-Calif., made the comment to reporters after House Democrats held a closed-door meeting at which participants vented frustration with the Senate's massive version of the legislation.

Her concession meant there was little hope for a White House-backed plan to quickly push the Senate-approved health bill through the House, followed by a separate measure making changes sought by House members, such as easing the Senate's tax on higher-cost health plans. Such an approach would be "problematic," she said.

"In its present form without any changes I don't think it's possible to pass the Senate bill in the House," Pelosi said, adding, "I don't see the votes for it at this time."

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has finally come forward to admit that he fathered a child with a videographer he hired before his second White House bid. "It was wrong for me to ever deny she was my daughter," he said Thursday.

Edwards confirmed this in a statement released to The Associated Press, after initially denying that he'd fathered a child during an affair with campaign aide Rielle Hunter.

"I am Quinn's father," the former senator declared in his statement, as the second birthday of Frances Quinn Hunter approaches.

A former Edwards aide, Andrew Young, initially claimed paternity of the child shortly before the 2008 presidential primary contests began. Young is scheduled to release a book on Feb. 2 that details the scandal.
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What a cad and a-hole who is a disgrace to the male gender.

A new Rasmussen Reports survey in Missouri shows Roy Blunt (R) now holds a six-point lead over Robin Carnahan (D) for the U.S. Senate, 49% to 43%.

Last month, Carnahan had a narrow 46% to 44% edge over Blunt.