• Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore

    CA-Sen: Carly Fiorina Leads in Race to Defeat Senator Barbara Boxer But…..

    California GOP U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina on the Kudlow Report (November 18, 2009)

    But, the but is a big one. Carly Fiorina polls better than Chuck DeVore but continues to trail the incumbent Democrat Senator Boxer.

    On the other hand, Senator Boxer is considered to be vulnerable.

    Any incumbent who polls less than 50% is considered vulnerable, and 2010 is shaping up as a tough political year for Democrats. Still, Boxer, who is expected to seek a fourth term in the Senate next year, was reelected in 2004 with 58% of the vote, and California remains a heavily Democratic state.

    Twenty-four percent (24%) of voters share a very favorable opinion of Boxer, down three points from October. One in three voters (33%) now view her very unfavorably, up five points from last month.

    Only 8% view Fiorina very favorably and 9% view her very unfavorably.

    Just 4% view DeVore very favorably and 7% view him very unfavorably.

    At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with a strong opinion more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

    And…. while DeVore has been campaigning for over a year, his candidacy has shown NO positive movement, especially during the time Fiorina has been battling breast cancer. Carly has only been an announced candidate for two weeks and although now is in full campaign mode did very few events from February though October.

    The polling continues to show promise for Fiorina in picking off Barbara Boxer.

    Stay tuned…..


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  • Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore

    CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore FALSELY Accuses Carly Fiorina of Faking Twitter Followers



    From Chuck DeVore’s Twitter Feed

    California Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) REALLY should get his facts straight before he goes off half-cocked about his GOP opponent for the California United States Senate seat.

    DeVore accuses and mocks his opponent, Carly Fiorina, of faking her Twitter follower account.

    WRONG.

    Social-networking site Twitter plans to end a service that links prominent message posters with new users, a service that was criticized in California because of perceived unfairness toward GOP gubernatorial candidates.

    Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said Monday the San Francisco-based company will overhaul its “suggested users” list, which links Twitter users with a pool of about 500 celebrities, sports figures and politicians they might want to follow.

    “That list will be going away,” Stone said at a conference in Malaysia. “In its stead will be something that is more programmatically chosen, something that actually delivers more relevant suggestions.”

    Names on the suggested user list are selected by company officials. In California, Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls were placed on the list, a move that greatly boosted their number of followers. Republican candidates were left off until recently.

    Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, who led the Republican field with 4,160 Twitter followers, jumped to nearly 61,000 followers. Former Congressman Tom Campbell went from 1,660 followers to 57,500, while state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner’s nearly 2,600 followers increased to 56,500.

    By comparison, Attorney General Jerry Brown, the presumed Democratic gubernatorial candidate, increased from 960,000 followers to 1 million during the same three-week period.

    Twitter also added Carly Fiorina, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer next year.

    But, it was NOT bad enough that DeVore was wrong and has NOT apologized (as of yet). He has consistently HARPED on the matter by retweeting (reposting on Twitter) the false information.

    Like here:

    Here:

    And, here:

    Talk about beating a FALSE drum or spamming one on Twitter.

    So, come on Chuck, before you come on here and accuse Flap of DeVore Derangement Syndrome again, how about apologizing to Carly Fiorina for being WRONG, DISINGENUOUS or UNSCRUPULOUS.

    Take your pick and apologize before you lose even more credibility.

    Update:

    Maybe Chuck DeVore should apologize to the National Republican Senatorial Committee as well.

    What do you think, Chuck?


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  • Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore

    Carly Fiorina Wins San Diego County Republican Party Straw Poll

    Screencap from the San Diego County GOP website

    Flap has been sitting on this for a few hours but finally have confirmation that Carly Fiorina, indeed, won last night’s San Diego County Republican Party Straw Poll over Chuck DeVore.

    This is a straw poll and a bit of a fundraiser but my sources within the Fiornia campaign tell me that her campaign did NOT buy any votes, i.e. when offered to purchase ballot packages they declined. Sources also tell me though that Chuck DeVore’s campaign DID buy tickets and thus votes.

    So, either DeVore did not buy enough votes (remember how he manipulated the last faux straw poll), had little support of the San Diego GOP and/or Fiorina had overwhelming support.

    In any case, in the first match up since Carly declared her candidacy, she won.

    By the way, in the California Governor’s race, Meg Whitman beat Tom Campbell and Steve Poizner.


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  • Chuck DeVore

    Chuck DeVore With Obama Birther Connections Now Associates FDR’s New Deal With Mussolini Fascism

    California Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and Candidate for California U.S. Senate

    Chuck, your Obama birther connections are bad enough.

    It draws the links between Chuck’s support last year of Floyd Brown, an architect of the famous 1988 Willie Horton campaign against Michael Dukakis. Last year, Brown created a campaign to attack then Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Said Brown: “It is absolutely critical that Obama’s negatives go up with Republicans.”

    Brown’s ad focused on a 2001 vote by then-Illinois state senator Obama. He opposed a bill that would have expanded the use of the death penalty if the perp was in a gang.

    However, Chuck’s pals at Time magazine described the ad’s “links between Obama’s vote on that issue and the deaths of three Chicago resident’s are indirect and tenuous.”


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  • Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore,  National Republican Senatorial Committee

    Chuck DeVore Who?

    From Washington Post political writer and blogger Chris Cillizza’s twitter feed yesterday

    Exactly.

    And, this is why former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has boasted that national Republicans support her candidacy.

    Carly Fiorina, a likely Republican candidate for Senate in California, made public on Tuesday what her GOP primary opponent Chuck DeVore has long claimed: that the national party is supporting her bid to take out Sen. Barbara Boxer next year.

    “The chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee has encouraged me to enter the race, reaffirming my belief that Chuck DeVore can not beat Barbara Boxer,” Fiorina said Tuesday, according to SanDiegoNewsRoom.com.

    Now the National Republican Senatorial Committee has done NO formal endorsement and today entertained another candidate, Al Ramirez who is running for the California U.S. Senate seat.

    There has been some grumbling that the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) resources haven’t been available to lesser-known candidates, but perhaps they just never asked.

    Businessman Al Ramirez, an underdog candidate in the GOP primary to face Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), is launching his campaign today at NRSC headquarters.

    Ramirez’s event could been seen as a retort to state Sen. Chuck DeVore’s contention that the committee has already chosen sides in the primary. DeVore has unleashed a series of attacks on the NRSC for allegedly choosing Carly Fiorina as its candidate.

    NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh says: “Al Ramirez is a Republican candidate, and we extend our facilities to Republican candidates. Barbara Boxer’s approval ratings are very low, and we’re excited about our prospects in California next year.”

    I mean could you really blame the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for backing Carly Fiorina? After all NOBODY even knows who Irvine-based California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore is. And, he has raised NO money for a statewide campaign.

    Chuck DeVore is simply NOT a viable candidate against Democrat incumbent U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and should stop his MOANING about the NRSC which he never even asked to meet.

    Update:

    And Chuck DeVore called Chris Cillizza a what in response? SORE LOSER.

    Well, when DeVore found out about Cillizza’s poison-tipped “who?” hebasically had no other choice than to let slip the dogs of War-tweeting. And so ensued a series of barbaric bleats starting with DeVore pointing out that he was “The candidate who edged you out for a Shorty Award for best political use of Twitter, that’s who!” Yes: I had to look up what a “Shorty Award” is, and this is what I found out….

    Anyway, DeVore then felt compelled to send the same message out (“Chris Cillizza is still sore DeVore for CA beat him out for a Shorty Award for best political use of Twitter in 08.”) three separate times, which certainly bespeaks a level of Twitter ineptitude that one would think unbecoming of a winner of one of these vaunted Shorty Awards.

    Odd duck is only the beginning to describe Chuck DeVore. Geeeeezzzzz.


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  • Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore

    Chuck DeVore Hypocritically Attacks Carly Fiorina on Internet Regulation

    California Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Web video: “Carly Fiorina on the First Amendment: Regulate it”

    I don’t quite understand how California Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore who is running for the GOP nomination for United States Senate can say that his soon to be announced Republican opponent, Carly Fiorina, is for regulating free speech and the first amendment on the internet? From the info notes on You Tube:

    Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina wants to be a U.S. Senator. At a Web 2.0 conference in October 2009 she called for regulation of speech on the Internet, saying that the Internet cannot continue to be the “Wild Wild West.” Fiorina’s proposal for content restrictions on the Web represents an unconstitutional infringement of our First Amendment rights. California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, the conservative Republican candidate against Sen. Barbara Boxer, disagrees with Fiorina’s proposed regulation of the Internet. As a U.S. Army officer and a state lawmaker, he has sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America — and that includes the First Amendment.

    Remember when Flap carried the Web 2.0 conference interview here.

    Here is the video:

    Carly Fiorina (Carly Fiorina Enterprises) with John Battelle (Federated Media Enterprises), Sponsored by SAP; Go to minute 13:00

    Here is a transcript of the statements at issue (i dropped some irrelevant parts of her answer):

    Question: How do you think the world wide web/internet should be governed or should it be regulated?

    Answer: Well, I do think that we’re coming to the point where we need to acknowledge that the world wide web and the internet cannot be forever a sphere apart from the rest of the world.  The world wide web cannot be forever the Wild Wild West where anything goes.  So, for example, I do think that it’s foolish to take the very complex, very onerous tax system that we have today in the physical world and just layer it onto the online world.  I think we have to do—and by the way I’ve thought this since 2000 when I testified before Congress on this point so this isn’t something new—but I think we need to focus on simplifying our tax system but I think we have to now begin to blend the realities of online and offline—that is what’s happening in the world.  I don’t think that we can permit the exploitation of women and children online that we would clearly indicate or believe is illegal and immoral offline.  So yes, I think it is inevitable that the online world will begin to be more and more regulated and more and more similar to the offline world. 

    So, is Chuck DeVore just plain lying about what Carly Fiorina said, since it is clear that she was discussing children’s pornography and the exploitation of women?

    Or is DeVore simply being a hypocrite in taking a cheap political shot at Carly Fiorina? I mean DeVore himself has co-authored legislation here in California that regulates conduct on the internet, AB 33, which was chaptered into law in 2005. The legislation regards internet predators:

    Existing law provides that it is a crime for an adult stranger to contact or communicate with a minor, 12 years of age or younger, who the adult knew or should have known was 12 years of age or younger, to lure him or her away, as specified, for any purpose. Existing law provides that this crime is punishable by a fine, by imprisonment in a county jail, or by both.

    This bill would prohibit this conduct when engaged in with a person who is under 14 years of age. This bill would provide that this crime is punishable as an infraction or a misdemeanor, as specified.

    Existing law provides that certain property, such as a computer, may be subject to forfeiture if used by a defendant to commit particular offenses, as specified. Existing law further provides the process by which property is forfeited and by which it may be recovered by the owner.

    This bill would provide that if the defendant used his or her computer to communicate with the victim in the attempt to lure the victim then that computer is subject to forfeiture.

    Moreover, here is some background on the law, AB 33:

    According to the author, “The proliferation of the Internet has caused child predators to move from the playground to the World Wide Web in search of unsuspecting children.  Children now encounter ever-increasing dangers and parents, in turn, face a growing challenge to protect their young. 

    “Unfortunately, due to greater access to the Internet and a stronger sense of independence, teenagers are the most frequently targeted population for predatory luring.  This bill, therefore, would increase the age of children protected by state law from age 12 to age 14.  Furthermore, this bill would enhance the penalty for child luring in order to further discourage the crime and provide a more appropriate punishment.  The bill also includes provisions that upon conviction would make the defendant’s computer subject to forfeiture.  Removing a known predator’s access to innocent victims is a common-sense approach to preventing further victimization.”

    Now, is Chuck DeVore disavowing this regulation of this “Wild Wild West” internet or should internet predators be afforded protected freedom of speech in their attacks on children?

    Chuck let me know.

    How about this law that you co-authored? Presumably, then you no longer favor it?

    Isn’t this, what Carly Fiorina was referring to, Chuck?

    I mean, come on now.

    Update:

    Here is a shortened video clip of exactly what Carly Fiorina said:

    Update #2:

    Another take here.

    To put it all together, it appears Fiorina  believes regulation is coming to the internet one way or another. She
    is noticeably unclear on where this contention comes from in this video  but it may be a nod to the party’s base around the idea of net  neutrality as regulation, which is flatly false. Net neutrality preserves the internet and is does not add any additional regulations.

    It seems that her contention is that, in her mind, if regulation is coming, it should be used to fight against the exploitation of children and women. To parse the statement out, one would imagine she means child pornography and the belief that pornography degrades women.

    Chuck DeVore pounced and released a heavily edited clip of Fiorina’s answer in a new, ridiculously self-aggrandizing web video. The poorly-produced web video — an “award-winning new media operation” can’t do better than Windows Movie Maker quality? — claims that Fiorina wants to curtail the First Amendment’s protections of freedom
    of speech.

    It is clear from Fiorina’s answer that she was speaking of the exploitation of children and women, but apparently,
    kiddie porn and the like is protected free speech?

    The most ironic element of all this, the video was pushed in an e-mail by DeVore staffer, Justin Hart, when Hart previously consulted for the Lighted Candle Society, an anti-pornography group.

    Over to Chuck……

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  • Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore

    California GOP Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Falls Flat in California U.S. Senate Fundraising

    The official filing  for the ending third quarter (September 30, 2009) is now posted over at the Federal Elections Commission although the National Journal had a summary earlier.

    You can generate your own DeVore FEC report in PDF format here.

    All Flap knows is that California United States Senator Barbara Boxer is licking her chops at the prospect of EVER running against a Republican candidate with so little monetary support. After all, DeVore has been campaigning for almost a year (as soon as he won re-election to the California Assembly and is term limited out from running for re-election) and has a “NET” cash on hand of $56K compared to Boxer’s $6.35 million.

    Now, Flap wants to know why Assemblyman DeVore is fibbing to the San Francisco Chronicle when he is stating he has “a gross” of about $600,000 in the bank. Uh No.

    Chuck, despite your tweets from you and your paid flacks, like Joshua Trevino, you ain’t even close to $600K. You are closer to $60K and would be even closer to $60K if you hadn’t donated funds to Senate candidates Pat Toomey and Marco Rubio and the National Conservative Campaign fund.

    Is there any wonder why DeVore claims that he is being dissed by the national GOP and the NRSC (national Republican Senatorial Committee)?

    DeVore simply does NOT have the support for his candidacy and in a year of candidacy has NOT been successful in fundraising.

    Should Carly Fiorina not run in this race (which I believe she will), look for someone else to jump in at the last minute.

    DeVore just falls flat.


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  • Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore

    Carly Fiorina at Web 2.0 in San Francisco Talks About Breast Cancer, Government Tech Policy and Her Possible Run for California U.S. Senate

    Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina yesterday evening

    Sounds like Carly Fiorina is running for United States Senate.

    It was a very different Carly Fiorina who took the stage at the Web 2.0 Summit dinner tonight to discuss her potential run for the U.S. Senate.

    Just as it was typical when she was the first female chief executive of Hewlett Packard, part of the conversation with Web 2.0 co-host John Battelle covered her appearance. But in this case it was relevant in the discussion about her political reviews.

    Fiorina’s hair was a mix of dark brown and gray and it looked as if it had been recently shaved. She said that her close-shorn look was a result of her eight-month battle with breast cancer.

    “I have seen the best and the worst of our healthcare system,” she said, with her voice shaking slightly with the emotional moment that focused on her own health. But she told the audience at the dinner that she was healthy. She was there to talk about her possible bid as a Republican candidate to take on Democrat Barbara Boxer. Fiorina didn’t outright declare her candidacy, but she said she was exploring the idea.

    What was the most interesting during her talk last night was the angst on Twitter from left-wing tech folks bemoaning a possible Fiorina candidacy. There were not many of these folks and after all it was San Francisco.

    Also, interesting was GOP California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore pathetically re-tweeting negative comments about Fiorina. I mean doesn’t DeVore who will possibly oppose Fiorina in a contested Republican Party primary election in June 2010 have anything better to do than be pathetic. How about fundraising, where DeVore has been an abysmal failure? Or criticizing the vulnerable, incumbent, Democrat U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer?

    But, whatever. Carly Fiorina is tough enough to withstand the LEFT and RIGHT.

    The question is: Will Fiorina be able to WIN?


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  • Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore

    Carly Fiorina’s Absence from California GOP Convention for Breast Cancer Treatment Mocked by California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Spokesman Joshua Trevino


    From @jstrevino today on Twitter at 9:25 AM

    I saw this today on Twitter and really could not believe it. A spokesman and a paid one at that for California Republican Assemblyman and U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore, Joshua Trevino,  mocking fellow Republican Carly Fiorina for not attending this past weekend’s California GOP Convention in Indian Wells.

    James Richardson has the FLAP.

    Citing the physical demands of her ongoing treatment for breast cancer, for which she was diagnosed last March, potential GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina said her schedule of radiation treatments would not permit her attendance at the convention.

    But the DeVore campaign has noted that, while Fiorina’s health curiously precluded her from attending the party gathering, she spent much of the following Monday campaigning in Fresno with ranchers and participated via satellite in Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women Summit.”

    Laying the foundation for the belief that Fiorina is somehow casually exploiting her illness for the benefit of her campaign, State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore told The Fresno Bee he finds “it curious that her campaign said she was unable to make the convention for health reasons, and yet, … she was engaged in what appears to be a pretty standard, strenuous campaign day yesterday – the day after the convention.”

    Indicative of his campaign’s reliance on rumor-mongering of a particularly vicious and fatuous sort, DeVore’s critics say his campaign’s latest assault on Fiorina is built on the notion that he can cobble together support among the GOP ranks by fostering the double-edged rumor that his opponent is too ill to campaign, too liberal to campaign for the Republican nomination – or, perhaps, both.

    “Carly says daily treatments keep her home, yet she campaigned Monday. Conclusion: as Pluto is no longer a planet, Monday is no longer a day,” wrote campaign spokesman Josh Treviño on Twitter.

    Fiorina, whose campaign is stalled in the exploratory phase, will “continue to take day trips with a limited schedule, like she did in Fresno, in order to meet with people and hear first hand their concerns about our state and our country,” said spokeswoman Beth Miller.

    Sources familiar with Fiorina’s event in Fresno say it was neither “strenuous” nor absent of conservatives, contending it was a casual agricultural campaign event. Moreover, the event in Fresno was conveniently—and necessarily—located near where Fiorina receives her radiation treatment – whereas Indian Wells is roughly 400 miles away.

    But, there is another tweet from PAID Chuck DeVore spokesman Joshua Trevino.



    From @jstrevino today on Twitter
    at 3:50 PM

    So, Assmblyman Chuck DeVore, a candidate for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate implies that Carly Fiorina avoided the California GOP convention and did so by exploiting her breast cancer. Then, DeVore’s spokesman goes after Fiorina in a more forceful and direct way calling her indirectly a LIAR.

    Devore’s statement and that of his paid FLACK HACK are REAL classy, right?

    Here is the official statement from Carly Fiorina’s spokeswoman:

    When she filed with the IRS to open a “testing the waters” committee in August, Carly indicated she would be meeting with a variety of policy makers, local leaders and business owners from around the state. Since then she has met with many people and her visit to Fresno yesterday was a continuation of that effort.

    “As you noted in your article last week, Carly is in her final weeks of radiation treatment, which is administered daily. Her schedule needs to accommodate those treatments and make allowances for the cumulative fatigue that occurs towards the end of the course of treatment. For that reason, the decision was made that she not attend the CRP convention this year but, should she run, Carly is looking forward to seeing folks at the February convention. In the meantime, she will continue to take day trips with a limited schedule, like she did in Fresno, in order to meet with people and hear first hand their concerns about our state and our country.

    I think this entire matter definitely says something about Chuck DeVore’s character and his questionable campaign behavior.

    More later on Chuck DeVore and his violations of the GOP’s 11th Commandment.

    Stay tuned…..


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  • Barbara Boxer,  Carly Fiorina,  Chuck DeVore,  David Paterson,  Democrats,  George Pataki,  GOP,  Kirsten Gillibrand,  Rudy Giuliani

    Are the United States Senate Democrats With 60 Members At Their High-Water Mark?

    The composition of the United States Senate, September 2009

    Apparently so, according to Charlie Cook.

    One of Vice President Joe Biden‘s long-standing and endearing qualities is his gift of hyperbole. The Washington Post recently quoted Biden as saying at a Democratic fundraiser that, of the 54 House seats Democrats have flipped in the last two elections cycles, “If [Republicans] take them back, this is the end of the road for what [President Obama] and I are trying to do.”

    While he overstates the case, Biden’s worry applies at least as much in the Senate. The Democrats’ majority status next year is not in doubt, but their 60-seat majority is in grave danger and the odds of their maintaining control after 2012 and 2014 are increasingly remote.

    The Senate seats up in next year’s midterm elections are evenly split, with 19 on each side. But in 2012, Democrats have 23 seats at risk (counting Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.) compared to only nine for the GOP. In 2014, it’s 20 Democrats up, to only 13 for Republicans.

    Good news for the GOP.

    California:

    In California, it’s unclear how tough the re-election challenge will be for Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. The biggest question there is whether Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is ready for prime time politics.

    Note: there is NO mention of Carly Fiorina’s GOP challenger Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

    New York:

    New York is also very murky. Former Republican Gov. George Pataki might run. Remember that he knocked off Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1994, the last really bad year for Democrats. There are other first-tier Republicans — former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Rep. Rick Lazio — who are looking at the gubernatorial race but might be enticed to take on Gillibrand.

    Probably Rudy for Governor against Paterson and Pataki against Gillibrand. Then, a likely dual pick-up for the GOP.


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