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CA-Sen: Fred Davis – The Creative Genius Behind The Political Curtain
“Hot Air” from the Carly Fiorina campaign against Senator Barbara BoxerI think you will enjoy reading this profile of Fred Davis and why the GOP is banking on his work to help replace Senator Barbara Boxer with Carly Fiorina.
It’s early on a Sunday morning and Fred Davis, perhaps the most sought-after ad man in politics, wants his client in the zone. “Today will be a battle between toughness and twinkle,” he e-mails Carly Fiorina, the Republican Senate hopeful in California. She pings him back: “I’ll come twinkle in hand.”
Soon, Fiorina arrives at a large soundstage near the Paramount Pictures lot here to film a series of campaign spots, and Davis is scurrying across the set, a stopwatch dangling from his neck, assembling the crew of more than two dozen. He is the campaign’s creative director, and this is the big show.
Are the scripts loaded onto the teleprompter? Check. Is the fog machine working? Check. Is Fiorina’s black stool at center stage? Check. The caterers are serving coffee and breakfast burritos. The makeup girl is waiting in a mirrored side room. The fashion photographer Philip Dixon, whom Davis praises as being “up there with Annie Leibovitz,” is breezing around in his signature hippie-pajamas ensemble adjusting two massive floodlights that he will beam against a white wall to delicately light the candidate’s face.
“I want it to look perfect — as good as anything in Vogue,” Davis says. “This is how you shoot a Hollywood movie. This is not how you shoot a political ad.”
Davis is orchestrating a simple shot. Fiorina, alone, speaks to the camera against a dark, moodily lit backdrop, her hazel eyes twinkling as commanded. A tech turns on the fog machine. In the blue light, the effect is ethereal. Fiorina, the tough, smack-talking former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, is transformed into a delicate angel.
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Day By Day September 24, 2010 – Standup
Peggy Noonan’s column today speaks to STANDUP American women voters and POLS.What is the mainstream media getting wrong about this election, and what is it getting right? The media, Ms. Blackburn says, do not fully appreciate “how livid people are with Washington.” They see the anger but don’t understand its implications. “They’re getting right that people want change, but they’re wrong about what that change is going to be.” The media, she said, “are going to be amazed when Carly Fiorina and Sharron Angle win.”
The mainstream media famously like the horse race—red is up, blue is down; Smith is in, Jones is out. But if Ms. Blackburn is right, the election, and its meaning, will be more interesting than the old, classic jockeying. And the outcomes won’t be controlled by the good ol’ boys but by those she calls “the great new gals.”
I think the political pundits will be surprised at the ascendance of more women this election cycle – despite the blatant sexism of the MSM. For example, the treatment of Christine O’Donnell and Sarah Palin.
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CA-Sen Field Poll Watch: Barbara Boxer 47% Vs. Carly Fiorina 41%
Republican Nominee Carly Fiorina and California Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer
The latest California Field poll in the U.S. Senate race is out and has Senator Barbara Boxer leading my 6 points.Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer has opened up a six-point lead against her GOP opponent, Carly Fiorina, as the race heads into the final six weeks, according to a Field Poll released Thursday.
Boxer, a three-term incumbent, leads 47 percent to 41 percent. She led by three points in July.
The poll found that impressions of Boxer are sharply divided and highly partisan, with 93 percent of all likely voters having an opinion of her. It found that Boxer still has a high unfavorable rating of 48 percent. But it has declined from a high of 52 percent two months ago.
“She’s hanging in,” said Mark DiCamillo, the poll’s director. “It looks like she’s had a pretty good month or two.”
DiCamillo attributed the results to Boxer’s television advertising, which began last week, while Fiorina unveiled her first television ad on Thursday. DiCamillo noted that Fiorina’s unfavorable rating has jumped from 29 percent to 38 percent since July.
“Fiorina has definitely taken a hit,” he said.
Barbara Boxer has been hitting California television fairly hard the past 10 days and Carly has barely started her television media campaign. It has been a matter of campaign resources as Boxer has more campaign cash to spend on expensive California media markets.
What Carly needs to do is “HIT” Boxer with negative television ads and hit her hard on California television the closing weeks of the campaign. From the polling, it is apparent that California voters are voting against Boxer and Fiorina should help them make that choice.
I look for Fiorina to do just that.
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CA-Sen Video: Carly Fiorina Launches California-Wide Television Ad Campaign
GOP U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina’s first television ad against Senator Barbara Boxer – “Sir”I tweeted last night that Carly Fiorina would soon begin her California State-Wide television media campaign since it was apparent from the election calendar (absentee and early voting will start in California in a few weeks) that she would either begin or allow Barbara Boxer have a full two week start on television (she began her television ads over 10 days ago). Then, I learned that my assumptions were correct and that the first ad would begin its run on Thursday.
I haven’t seen it yet on Los Angeles channels as of yet but the rotation will begin soon. The Carly Campaign will probably not reveal the extent of their ad buy for obvious strategic reasons.
From the early morning press release:
U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina today launched her first television advertisement of the general election, “Sir.” The 30-second ad marks the start of a series of statewide advertisements Fiorina will air during the general election campaign.
“It has only taken 30 years, but California voters have finally been afforded the complete and accurate picture of Barbara Boxer. In her own words, she demonstrates the arrogance that is the hallmark of a career that has gone on for far too long and will mercifully end on November 2. She’s invested much in furthering her career and liberal ideology but has delivered little for the people of California,” said Carly for California Campaign Manager Marty Wilson. “Boxer’s treatment of General Walsh is seared into the minds of Californians, and this is the beginning of our campaign’s fact-based approach to exposing the lowlights of Barbara Boxer’s career dedicated to raising taxes, increasing the size of government and promoting policies that strangle the private sector’s ability to create jobs. Carly provides the perfect contrast through her background in business and commitment to addressing our country’s challenges with bipartisan, common-sense solutions.”
“Sir” features the infamous exchange between Barbara Boxer and Brigadier General Michael Walsh in which she demands he call her “senator” rather than “ma’am.” “Sir” underscores the arrogance that has become the hallmark of Barbara Boxer’s nearly three decades in Washington and contrasts that to Carly Fiorina’s commitment as a political outsider to focus on bringing people together to get the nation’s economy back on track and restore accountability in our government.
The timing of the ad for the Fiorina Campaign is interesting. Carly is in DC fundraising through Saturday (Boxer is in DC attending Senate sessions) asking donors for campaign cash to pay for “on air” time. Fred Davis, her ad creator, has delivered the product, now it is up to either Carly or political donors to distribute them. My bet is that Carly will pull out her own checkbook, if campaign cash is slow in delivery.
The television media campaign of Carly Fiorina Vs. Barbara Boxer has begun – watch for Fiorina to start to pull away in the polls in about three weeks.
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CA-Sen Video: Carly Fiorina on the Power of the Tea Party Movement in California
GOP U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina tells the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board writers and reporters what she thinks of the Tea Party MovementA number of Tea Party organizations will be coming to the aid of Carly Fiorina in the closing days of the campaign. Whether it be in direct contributions or third party independent expenditures remains to be seen.
Stay tuned…..
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CA-Sen: Barbara Boxer – THE BOUNCER
Remember the House Banking Scandal in 1992?In 1992, angry about stalemated government, soaring deficits, and economic recession, the public focused its attention on check bouncing in the House of Representatives bank as a symbol of government perks, or special privileges. For 150 years the House sergeant at arms had operated a bank in the Capitol, where members could write checks based on their deposited salaries. A General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation revealed that many representatives had written checks with insufficient funds in their accounts to cover those checks, but the bank had taken no action to suspend or penalize those who bounced checks. Extensive media coverage caused the House to abolish the bank and reveal the names of more than 300 members who had bounced checks. An unusually large number of representatives chose not to run for reelection, and several other check bouncers were defeated. The bank scandal spurred the House to establish the position of director of nonlegislative services, who would serve as a general manager of financial and other administrative activities.
Well, shocker, Senator Barbara Boxer when she was in the House of Representatives was the 24th most egregious of the miscreants.
The PBS onlineNewshour summarizes the House Banking Scandal, also known as Rubbergate: “In 1992, many House members were suspected of bouncing checks from accounts they held at the so-called “House Bank” — a loose operation that allowed member of Congress to cash their checks but kept shoddy records and often were quite delayed in recording deposits or withdrawals. Although the lawmakers had broken no laws and many did not even know they were bouncing checks, several took advantage of the bank system and many voters viewed the scandal as a blatant abuse of power. Of the 296 sitting representatives and 59 former members who had overdrafted their personal accounts in the preceding 39 months, the House Ethics Committee released a list of the 24 worst abusers.”
Boxer was among the top 24 involved in the House bank scandal. On March 1, 1992 the Sacramento Bee quoted Boxer as admitting she didn’t pay enough attention to her House bank account. More specifically, that meant 143 bad checks totaling $41,417 over a three-year period that she had written on the House bank.
So, why would something dated back to the 1990’s be so important?
All of this occurred as she was preparing her first campaign for Senate; she decided to attempt to defuse the matter with humor, joking that if she did not win her party’s Senate nomination, she would form a new self-help group: ‘Born Again Bookkeepers.’
Yuk, yuk, yuk.
Clearly, she never became a born-again bookkeeper; when Barbara Boxer entered the U.S. Senate, the national debt was a little over $4 trillion. Today, it is $13.4 trillion.
Why bring up these old matters? To ensure Californians know what they may return to Washington for another six years. In her long political career, we’ve seen Boxer appear to buy endorsements, jet-set around the world to exotic resorts for “official business,” bounce checks, and there will be two more examples of embarrassing behavior to come later this week. She has yet to suffer a serious consequence for any of this.
What is different this election is the internet, the availability of communicating these abuses and a worthwhile opponent in Carly Fiorina. There will be consequences when California voters wise up and kick Senator Barbara, “The Bouncer” Boxer out of office.
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CA-Sen Poll Watch: Barbara Boxer 47% Vs. Carly Fiorina 43%
Pollster Interactive poll average chart: Boxer 47.4% Vs. Fiorina 45.3%In the second California U.S. Senate poll released today, this race continues to be within the margin of error and is essentially a dead heat.47% Boxer (D)
43% Fiorina (R)Favorable / Unfavorable
Barbara Boxer: 48 / 49
Carly Fiorina: 47 / 449/20/10; 750 likely voters, 4% margin of error
Mode: Automated phoneAgain, since Barbara Boxer has had a television media blitz the past week or so, one would expect some movement for her. But, there has been little, if any, especially if you consider the Fox News poll released this morning.
Carly Fiorina will begin her paid television campaign soon.
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CA-Sen Poll Watch: Barbara Boxer 47% Vs. Carly Fiorina 46%
Republican Nominee Carly Fiorina and California Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer
The race is essentially a dead heat in this latest Fox News poll. The margin of error is 3 points.But Whitman’s fellow former tech CEO and Republican, Carly Fiorina, seems unaffected. She and incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer remain essentially tied. Fiorina gained 2 points to finish at 46 percent. Boxer bubbled up one point to finish at 47 percent.
While Boxer’s 41 percent approval rating may explain why she is having so much trouble getting elected to a fourth term, her performance may have something to do with slack support for Obama and his agenda.
Obama’s California job approval rating slid 3 points to 45 percent. The percentage of voters who think Obama’s policies have hurt the state’s economy rose 2 points to 37 percent. Only 25 percent believe Obama’s policies have helped the state economically.
Boxer has been “on air” for about a week and Fiorina has yet to launch any paid television ads. Again, I look for Fiorina to pull away once her media starts and linking Boxer to failed Obama policies may very well be one of the ads.
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CA-Sen: QUACK QUACK Barbara Boxer is DUCKING Debates Against Carly Fiorina
From Los Angeles CBS affiliate KCBSDemocrat Senator Barbara Boxer ain’t going to debate Carly Fiorina. I mean she is either a little behind or a little ahead in the polls. Why take a risk, right?
From the video above:
KCAL/KCBS REPORTER: “Would it be fair for people to assume … that you really don’t want the people of California to see you debating the issues?”
BOXER: “No.” (cue 3 second awkward pause) “Do you want me to explain?”
KCAL/KCBS REPORTER: “Yes.”
BOXER:
“Ok. I’d like to debate many more times, maybe ten. And I intend to run a campaign based on what I need to do to let the people know I’m not that person that my opponent says I am. And I will be doing that and debating as many times as I possibly can.”Quack Quack Boxer is sitting on about $10 Million to pay for one sided television ads.
Quack Quack – there will be no more Boxer-Fiorina debates after the next faux one.
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CA-Sen Video: Barbara Boxer is a FAILURE
Carly Fiorina’s latest video, a web ad for now but soon to be on televisionIt did not take long for Carly Fiorina to respond to Barbara Boxer’s attack ad that was released yesterday afternoon. The ad is based on the failure of Senator Boxer’s career in the U.S. Senate.
From the Fiorina campaign press release:
“For the last 28 years, Barbara Boxer has done nothing but foster a hostile work environment for our nation’s job creators and help destroy jobs across California. While the Golden State struggles under the weight of an unemployment rate that has soared to 12.3 percent and with more than 2 million Californians out of work, Barbara Boxer is living off the spoils of elected office, having watched her salary more than double, become a millionaire and paid her family members hundreds of thousands of dollars out of her special-interest-funded political committees,” said Carly for California Press Secretary Andrea Saul. “Her record of failure includes voting for more than $1 trillion in higher taxes and trillions more in wasteful spending. It’s clear that Barbara Boxer has completely failed to deliver results for the people of California, and that’s why voters will fire her come November 2.”
Let’s see: Senator Barbara Boxer has fiddled while the California economy has burned.
Former California Democrat Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown once called Boxer one of the luckiest, if not the luckiest POL he has seen.
I think this election cycle her luck has run out.