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CA-Sen: Senator Barbara Boxer Wins Re-Election Over Carly Fiorina
California Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina talks to volunteers and supporters at California GOP election night headquarters in Irvine, California last night
It wasn’t a pretty loss for Carly Fiorina where polls had the race much closer than the 9-10 point Boxer victory.After monitoring results overnight, Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina conceded defeat Wednesday morning after her hard-fought race with Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, stating that she was proud of every moment of her campaign.
Speaking to reporters and a small group of supporters with her husband at her headquarters in Irvine, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive said the experience had been a privilege and that she had been touched by every person she met across California. She said she ran because she was concerned that attaining the American dream had become too hard for too many people and that she was still worried about out-of-control spending in Washington.
“We had an exceptional campaign,” Fiorina said. “In the end we could not overcome the registration that Democrats have, and in particular in L.A. County.”
Demographics played a role (look at the California map) but so did the relentless negative advertising by Barbara Boxer who portrayed Carly Fiorina as a greedy corporate executive who laid employees off by shipping their jobs offshore and enriched herself at the same time. The late in the campaign ads which featured outsourced Hewlett-Packard employees was devastating to Fiorina – particularly in populous Los Angeles County where the ads played ubiquitously in the last two weeks of the campaign.
I was at the Irvine, California Fiorina headquarters yesterday afternoon through the early morning hours. Here are some photos which I snapped:
Radio talk show host of Salem Communications Dennis Prager
California Board of Equalization member Michelle Steel being interviewed
So, one has to consider whether it was worth the Carly Fiorina effort to challenge Barbara Boxer in “deep blue” California, raise, plus spend, the millions of dollars in campaign cash and come out with a loss that is about what Matt Fong experienced in 1998.Somehow I think it was, since Boxer herself acknowledged that this race was “the toughest and roughest campaign of my life.” Plus, Boxer had to utilize the full resurces of her incumbency to fight back Fiorina, including multiple President Obama fundraising events. Boxer spent $ millions which could have been redistributed to other states for other Democrat campaigns. And, she spent like a drunken sailor on television ads the last month of the campaign.
But, with this said, California Democrats who have a massive registration advantage, pretty much swept the California election board and shellacked the GOP – from Jerry Brown’s election as Governor to Loretta Sanchez’s re-election to the House. Even GOP favorite California Attorney General candidate Steve Cooley is in a close race which will be decided by absentee ballots (counted over the next few weeks).
I doubt whether the national GOP will place as many resources into California to win a statewide race (such as Senator Diane Feinstein’s re-election in two years) anytime soon – or my lifetime.
California is the new “Solid Blue” Massachusetts, New York or Maryland.
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CA-Sen: OOPS Barbara Boxer and Maxine Waters Did It Again
California U.S. Senate Barbara Boxer and Congresswoman Maxine Waters in July 2010
You remember the FLAP?This will make for some interesting political theater after the GOP takes over the House and Maxine Waters gets to face her ethics trial.
As the Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, and a 28-year inhabitant of Washington, DC, locked in a surprisingly tight race for re-election, one might expect Barbara Boxer to avoid controversial figures like the plague. But the challenges facing Boxer as she seeks to win a fourth term in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday apparently haven’t stopped her from buying the endorsement of her close friend, embattled Rep. Maxine Waters, once again. Below the fold are images of the pages of Waters’ 2010 general election “slate mailer” obtained by Big Government on Saturday, which showcases her endorsement. On page three of the mailer itself, Boxer is prominently recommended by Waters.
Here is some of the endorsement mailer:
I am looking forward to see both Maxine Water’s and Barbara Boxer’s FEC report on the expenditure after the election.
You know – follow the money.
Let’s hope that on the Barbara Boxer side it becomes a moot exercise with the election of Carly Fiorina. In any case, Maxine Waters is going to have some ethics problems.
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CA-Sen Poll Watch: Carly Fiorina Within Reach of Barbara Boxer?
I would say yes.
In fact, Real Clear Politics has moved the California Senate race to toss-up over the weekend from leans Democrat.
Let’s look at the last few polls with Senator Barbara Boxer’s supposed insurmountable lead disappearing into the margin of error. Remember in the latest PPP poll which is a Democrat sponsored poll, Boxer was ahead by 9 points just one week ago.
The California polls are skewing the number of Democrats Vs. Republicans Vs. Decline to State voters. They really have NO idea who will turn out and actually vote in such a large state.
I think Carly Fiorina, despite the scathing negative TV ads, will ultimately win this race by 3 points. Boxer has done a poor job for California, the economy here sucks and voters will punish her by sending her to retirement.
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CA-Sen: Carly Fiorina Does a Little Trick or Treat on Barbara Boxer
Carly Fiorina, who is running as a republican for California Senate, campaigns at the Sugar Shack candy store in Menlo Park, Calif., Friday, Oct. 29, 2010
Well, not really – more like a trick but Carly is back on the trail and hoping for a good turnout on Tuesday in this tight Senate race.Standing in a Halloween-decorated Menlo Park candy store Friday amid a mad scientist display, a jar of brains and big fuzzy spiders, Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina portrayed Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer as the real goblin in this race.
“No, Barbara Boxer, the stimulus bill hasn’t worked,” said Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, during a short visit to the Sugar Shack to highlight the importance of women-owned small businesses. “No, your policies of bailing, borrowing, spending, taxing are not working either.”
Asked about a new Field Poll that shows her trailing Boxer 49 percent to 41 percent — and among women by 15 points — Fiorina called the statewide poll “an outlier” compared to several others that show the race is “very, very tight” and “very, very winnable.”
Fiorina argued that if Boxer weren’t in trouble, President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s wife Jill wouldn’t be making so many trips to California to rally voters. Even singer Stevie Wonder and basketball great Magic Johnson have jumped on the Boxer bandwagon, she said.
“(Boxer) continues to say that taxing and spending and regulating and borrowing are creating jobs, when the facts are clear — they’re not, they’re destroying jobs in this great state,” Fiorina said.
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CA-Sen Poll Watch: Barbara Boxer 49% Carly Fiorina 46% MOE +/- 4%
Well, the race is still within the margin of error and the Dems cannot really claim this race as won.
Incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer still holds a small lead over Republican Carly Fiorina in California’s U.S. Senate race, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey of Likely Voters in the state.
Boxer, who is seeking a fourth six-year term, now earns 49% support to Fiorina’s 46%. Two percent (2%) prefer another candidate, and three percent (3%) remain undecided.
Boxer posted a 48% to 46% lead a week ago. In spite of her powers as an incumbent and California’s strong Democratic leanings, Boxer’s been struggling to widen the gap all year. She’s held a small lead in every survey but one since February with 42% to 49% of the vote. Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, has earned 38% to 47% support in those same surveys.
Exit question: Will the national GOP wave and GOTV ground operation propel Carly Fiorina to victory next Tuesday?
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CA-Sen: Barbara Boxer Apologizes for Soliciting Los Angeles Teachers to Break California Law
The letter from the Barbara Boxer for U.S. Senate campaign
Oops!I guess Senator Barbara Boxer was caught red handed in violating California law and now has issued a lame apology.
Boxer campaign manager Rose Kapolczynski had this explanation: “Because some local social studies teachers encourage students to volunteer, Boxer campaign volunteer coordinators notified a handful of schools near the campaign headquarters that the campaign was accepting volunteers. The letter did not ask teachers to solicit students to work on the campaign or to use school facilities, supplies or equipment for political purposes. The sole intent of the letter was to provide interested students with information about a volunteer opportunity. However, the letter, which was written by a volunteer and reviewed by a junior staffer, was inappropriate and we apologize. The author of the letter has been counseled and campaign coordinators will no longer conduct outreach to public schools.”
Yeah Yeah. Boxer was caught in this greasy scheme.
So, what else is new?
Barbara Boxer is a slimy, lifelong POL who knows how to work the system.
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CA-Sen: Barbara Boxer Solicits Los Angeles Teachers to Obtain Student Volunteers in Violation of California Law
The letter from the Barbara Boxer for U.S. Senate campaign
Yes, this is a pretty egregious violation of the California Education Code and Boxer should know better. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association letter is here. (Word Doc)Today the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association notified the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Board of Education today that, in abject ignorance of California state law, the political campaign of Senator Barbara Boxer has openly solicited teachers employed by LAUSD to urge their students to volunteer for her campaign.
HJTA’s letter to the school district urges LAUSD to immediately inform all its personnel, credentialed or otherwise, that it would be a clear violation of law for teachers to recruit their students on school property during school hours to volunteer for a specific political campaign.
Pursuant to both case law and a specific provision of the California Education Code, what Boxer wants would leave LAUSD subject to both civil and potentially criminal sanctions. Common sense should also tell her that seeking public resources and classroom time from teachers to do her political bidding is just wrong. Barbara Boxer should know better.
But, you see, Boxer needs Los Angeles County Democrats to turn out for her on November the 2nd or she is toast. Desperation breeds contempt of the law.
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CA-Sen: Is Barbara Boxer Surging in the Polls?
Unlikely, when you look at the sampling methods of the recent polls in a very large state as is California.
If you follow California Senate polling closely, you have to be feeling a little bit nauseated from the roller coaster ride you’ve been on. Some polls are showing Senator Barbara Boxer with a comfortable 9-point lead and above 50 percent, while others are showing a much closer race. One Republican pollster even shows Fiorina ahead.
What is going on here? The answer is something I’ve discussed before: Pollsters are having a devil of a time agreeing on what the electorate is going to look like
This chart above has changed a bit with the latest Survey USA poll having been released overnight. It is here. Their current breakdown is D:42%, R:34%, I:21%.
As you can see, the ratio of Democrats to Republican in the sample goes hand-in-glove with the size of Boxer’s edge. More Democrats equals more Boxer votes. In fact, the adjusted r-square is pretty nice — about .74. These polls’ internals actually don’t disagree that much — most of them have both candidates losing about 10 percent of their respective bases, while Fiorina has a double-digit edge among independents.
So who is right? Well, that’s the frustrating thing — we can’t definitively say. But we can get some sense of history here. The following table shows the exit poll results for 2008, 2006 and 2004, as well as the present early voting numbers:
As you can see, the pollsters showing a comfortable Boxer lead are showing electorates that are similar to 2008. On the other hand, the pollsters who are showing a tight race see an electorate more like 2004 or 2006.
So, what does the race and polling come down to with less than a week to go?
As, I have said before, it comes down to turn out – who actually shows up to vote on election day. If the Republicans are motivated and all come out to vote for Carly Fiorina, Fiorina wins the independent minded voter who shows up and/or the Democratic base of ethnic voters and Labor fail to show, even a little – Fiorina wins.
If the Democrats all show up to vote, Boxer wins. After all, it is a numbers game and the Democrats far and away out number the Republicans.
The GOTV (Get Out the Vote) ground operations of the California GOP may very well decide this race.
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CA-Sen: NRSC Believes The Race is Winnable or Why Would They Bet $3 Million on Carly Fiorina?
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Ad which will run statewide in CaliforniaA pretty obvious conclusion since they are spending the money.
It was the expenditure heard ’round the political world: The GOP is pouring $3 million into the race against Sen. Barbara Boxer on behalf of GOP nominee Carly Fiorina.
The news Monday that the National Republican Senatorial Committee planned to dump that much money into California, this late in the campaign, was enough to cause a double take. The NRSC was already in for $4.8 million in coordinated spending — making the nearly $8 million total expenditure in California the most the committee has publicly committed to any state this year and the most ever in California.
At the heart of the GOP investment is a belief that the race is much closer than Tuesday’s Public Policy Polling survey, which showed Boxer up 52-43, or last week’s Los Angeles Times poll that gave the incumbent an 8-point lead.
“For their turnout model to be accurate, it would have to mean a worse environment for Republicans than 2006,” a GOP operative familiar with the NRSC’s spending plans said of the Times survey. “We have two tracking polls that both show Carly only down 1 point and Boxer below 50, which is a bad place for an incumbent to be after so much spending.”
Recent polling also has convinced the GOP that voters are differentiating between Fiorina and gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, who appears to be sinking in her race against former Gov. Jerry Brown.
“Carly can win even if Meg doesn’t win,” the operative said.
I, also, feel California voters may very well split their ballot and vote for Jerry Brown, the Democrat but hedge their bets and vote for Fiorina, the Republican. A sort of balancing, as it were. Besides, Carly Fiorina does not have the “Nanny” problem of Whitman and Boxer is, well, an unpopular figure – ma’am, i mean Senator.
There is a throw the bums out mentality even in Left Coast Blue California but voters just can’t vote for Meg – so they vote for Carly instead and send Babs to retirement.
I bet all of the next few polls show Fiorina within the margin of error and Boxer well be below 50 per cent – a disaster for an incumbent.
But, stay tuned as Carly mends from an infection and tries to heal up in time for last minute campaigning.
Anything can happen folks, as this race goes down to the wire.
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CA-Sen Video: NRSC Launches New Anti- Barbara Boxer Ad in California
This ad is part of a $3-million independent expenditure by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Obviously, the ad targets California women voters a demographic which Carly Fiorina needs to do better according to numerous polls. The $3-million expenditure should guarantee statewide play throughout the last week of the campaign.
