Tag: Barbara Boxer

CA Sen: Fiorina Hospitalized

Jon Ponder

Medpagetoday:

Just a week before the election, Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO hoping to grab Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) seat for the Republicans, has been hospitalized for an infection related to post-mastectomy breast reconstruction surgery.

Fiorina’s chief of staff issued a statement saying the candidate “came down with an infection associated with the reconstructive surgery and, as a result, she was admitted to the hospital to receive antibiotics to treat this infection.”

The statement gave no other details about her condition except to say that she remained “cancer-free.”

“Her doctors expect her to make a quick and full recovery and be back out on the campaign trail soon,” according to the statement.

Fiorina, 56, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and underwent a mastectomy. She had reconstructive surgery this summer.

Poll: Home Stretch Rally for Dems in California – Brown up by 13 Points, Boxer by 8

Jon Ponder

The new Los Angeles Times/USC poll suggests that liberals, moderates and independent voters are coalescing around Democratic candidates in California. Here is analysis from the Times:

“I like the little guy; [Jerry Brown] didn’t have the money behind him like she did … We don’t shop at Walmart. We shop at the local store. He just seemed like more of a down-home candidate.That message that they’re sending to people is a very bad choice. We’re looking to people to act their values rather than throw money at causes. People are holding their money really closely and those candidates are really splurging.”
– Paula Bennett, a registered Republican, explaining in an interview with the Times why she is voting for Democrats Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer

[Jerry] Brown, the Democratic attorney general and former governor, led Whitman 52 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, the poll found. His advantage has more than doubled since a Times/USC poll in September.

The abrupt movement in the race for governor came as Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer held onto her 8-point margin over Republican Carly Fiorina in the U.S. Senate contest. Boxer’s 50 percent to 42 percent lead was statistically unchanged from September’s 51 percent to 43 percent edge.

For both Democrats, the month between the two polls found the party’s strongest supporters rallying to the candidates’ sides: liberals, women and Latinos either solidified or expanded their backing for Brown and Boxer. Nonpartisan voters, whom Republicans had counted on to overcome the Democratic advantage in voter registration, moved away from the two Republican candidates, and moderate voters also tilted toward the Democrats…

Most of the nation has seen pronounced enthusiasm by Republican voters as the midterm elections approach. In California, however, Democrats have gained strength and GOP motivation has ebbed slightly in the last month, the poll showed. The current standings represent a reassertion of a more typical profile for the state after an election year convulsed by a foundering economy, widespread discontent about the future and record-breaking spending by Whitman, who has dropped more than $141 million of her own money into her campaign.

Poll: 62% of Californians Don’t Like GOP – Dem Brown Up By 8 in Gov Race, Sen. Boxer up by 5

Jon Ponder
Most striking, only 55 percent of registered Republicans have a favorable impression of the GOP; 39 percent look on it unfavorably. By contrast, 75 percent of Democrats are favorably impressed with their party.

A new poll from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California finds that Democrat Jerry Brown leads Republican Meg Whitman by eight points — 44 percent to 36 percent — and Sen. Barbara Boxer leads her GOP opponent by five points 43 percent to 38 percent.

The survey also found that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a 29 percent job approval.

Why are California Republicans trailing in a year when the GOP and its tea party base are said to be ascendant in the rest of the country? Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton suggests it is because they are Republicans:

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CA Sen: Fiorina Must Apologize for John McCain’s Vindictive, Personal Attack Against Sen. Boxer’s Patriotism, Support for Troops

Pensito Editors

Transcript:

Barbara Boxer is the most bitterly partisan, the most anti-defense Senator in the United States Senate today. I know that because I have had the unpleasant experience of having to serve with her. So when you hear her say that she supports the men and women in the military, my friends, she does not. Because she has never supported the mission; she has never supported victory…

McCain’s statement continued:

…whether it be in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the world. Barbara Boxer wants to wave the white flag of surrender and endanger this nation’s national security. It’s time she went back to San Francisco with [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi.

After this disgraceful performance, McCain doubled-down his personal attacks Boxer in an appearance ABC News’ “Nightline”:

In an interview with ABC, McCain justified his attack on Boxer. “[Working with Boxer] has been an unpleasant experience because Barbara Boxer personalizes the political discourse that we have and that’s why she’s had so very little effect of any kind in the political process,” he said. “There is no Republican that will work with her.” And McCain added this about the Obama administration, “This is the most partisan administration that I have ever seen … and I came to the congress in 1983.” He also said: “I consider myself a person who stands up for what they believe in. When I was against President Bush on a number of issues I was called a maverick. When I was against President Obama, then I’m called a partisan. What I was trying to say — I’m the same person.”

CA Sen: 75% of Independents Support Abortion Rights – Are They Really Ready to Elect a Senator Who Advocates Overturning Roe?

Jon Ponder

photo-scotus-pro-choice-signsEconomies rise and fall. The Bush Recession will end one day soon, and the California economy will rebound.

Anxiety about the economy is driving the election today, but with polls tightening to within 3 percentage points in Sen. Barbara Boxer’s reelection race, it is becoming increasingly likely that Californians could wake up when the recession is over and realize that they have elected a senator, Carly Fiorina, who advocates overturning Roe vs. Wade.

If Fiorina is elected, it would represent a radical departure for California voters, over two-thirds of whom are strongly pro-choice. In fact, Californians have not elected a senator who advocated overturning Roe, as Fiorina does, since it became law in 1973.

That’s why Fiorina has been so desperate to keep the topic of abortion out of the race. When she was asked about it in her first debate with Boxer, she confirmed she would overturn Roe “if there was an opportunity,” but quickly added that abortion “is not an issue I’m running on.”

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Dems Building Firewall in California? Brown, Boxer Leading – U.S. House Generic Poll Gives Dems 13 Point Advantage Statewide

Jon Ponder

In the race for California governor, Democrat Jerry Brown, the state’s attorney general and former governor, has led billionaire former eBay executive Meg Whitman slightly in three out of four recent polls and the fourth was a tie. In the Senate race, Democrat Barbara Boxer has seen her lead over the Republican candidate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, grow incrementally in three recent polls.

Results from the new Los Angeles Times/USC poll out today show that, in the race for governor, Brown is ahead by 5 points, 49 percent to 44 percent. Whitman has spent $120 million of her money on her campaign, so far, while Brown has only spent what amounts to a fraction of that.

While generic polls on House races nationwide show the parties even or Republicans a few points ahead, in California Dems lead in the generic by 13 points, with 51 percent for Democrats and 38 percent for Republicans.

The same poll found that Boxer’s lead over Fiorina appears to be expanding when compared with other recent polls. In the Times poll, Boxer is ahead by 8 points, 51 percent to 43 percent. (Boxer’s 51 percent represents the first time any of the four candidates for the two big offices has been over 50 percent in the past few weeks.)

A SurveyUSA poll [PDF] conducted on Sept. 19 for a consortium of local TV news channels statewide, including KABC in Los Angeles, found Brown with 46 percent and Whitman with 43 percent.

The same poll put Boxer at 49 percent and Fiorina at 43 percent — the same result Fiorina received in the new Times poll. (This was a reversal from the previous SurveyUSA poll, which had Fiorina in the lead 48-46.)

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CA Sen: Fiorina’s Sexist Ad Attacking Boxer – Would GOP Be Outraged if a Male Lawmaker Asked a General to Call Him Senator?

Jon Ponder

Really, Carly, is this all you’ve got?

Fiorina, the disgraced HP executive who is running against Sen. Barbara Boxer in California, has released a new ad that she hopes will turn one of the GOP’s pet peeves about Boxer into a firestorm of controversy:

A week after her rival, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, aired spots attacking her tenure as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, Fiorina’s first general election ad uses campaign footage from a well-known exchange between Boxer and Army Corps of Engineers Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh at a hearing more than a year ago [in June 2009] of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which Boxer chairs.

In the brief clip used by Fiorina’s team, Boxer has interrupted Walsh after he’s addressed her as ‘Ma’am’: “You know, do me a favor. Could you say ‘Senator’ instead of ‘Ma’am’? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it,” Boxer says to Walsh.

Yeah, how dare Sen. Boxer ask to be addressed by her proper title? Who does she think she is?

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CA Sen: Boxer’s ‘Blistering’ Ad Spotlights Fiorina’s Tripling Own Salary While Laying off 30k Workers

Jon Ponder

Los Angeles Times:

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer released a blistering new ad Wednesday that accused rival Carly Fiorina of enriching herself as the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard while presiding over thousands of layoffs and the relocation of American jobs overseas.

The 30-second ad, airing on broadcast and cable channels in California’s four largest media markets, hews to the central theme that Boxer has tried to drive on the campaign trail: that Republican nominee Fiorina was an unfeeling CEO who valued personal ambition over the jobs of average workers.

“Fiorina shipped jobs to China and while Californians lost their jobs, Fiorina tripled her salary and bought a million-dollar yacht,” the narrator says. “Carly Fiorina. Outsourcing jobs. Out for herself.”

Verbatim

Trish

For reasons some of you know, I don’t want people to just see my hair.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), joking at a press conference. As the vertically challenged Boxer climbed a stool to reach the microphone, she recalled once seeing the Queen of England give a speech with only her hat visible to reporters. Boxer’s Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina, refuses to walk back her comment that Boxer’s hair is “So yesterday.” A July-end poll showed Boxer ahead by nine points in popularity, and a more than 10-to-1 lead in fundraising.

Schwarzenegger’s Failure Provides a Cautionary Tale about Electing Novices in Times of Crisis

Jon Ponder

Scharzenegger, in cockier times
Scharzenegger, in cockier times
It’s true that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be leaving Sacramento in disgrace in January, and the Washington Post gets it right that the genesis of his failure lies in the fact that he was a political novice and outsider — just like the current Republican candidate to take his place:

After nearly six years in office, Schwarzenegger has few friends left in either party. The state budget deficit hovers around $20 billion; his approval rating has sunk below 25 percent.

“We thought he was going to be a great governor, but he has been a great disappointment,” said Geneviève M. Clavreul, a Republican activist.

As candidates in races across the country try to position themselves as the politician with the least political experience, Schwarzenegger’s troubles in California illustrate some of the possible downsides of outsiderdom. Like Whitman, the GOP’s candidate for governor, and Fiorina, the party’s Senate nominee, Schwarzenegger came to office as a non-politician who would solve problems with unconventional ideas.

He had some successes, but the movie star stumbled as he tried to navigate the state’s political establishment, with its touchy egos and endless compromises. He floundered as he tried to tame the state’s runaway budget and push through ambitious reforms such as universal health care.

“Touchy egos?” — please. This man spent his career in Hollywood, where dealing with egomaniacs is the price of admission. And while Schwarzenegger may not be “touchy,” he is saddled with an over-sized ego himself — where do you think he got the foolish notion that he could govern California?

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