Carly Fiorina must prove she's more than a Hillary basher. And she's running out of time.
There's a mid-July deadline looming...
For months, the most trenchant criticisms of Hillary Clinton have come from an outlier Republican presidential candidate: Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Her January swipe at the Democrat — "Like Hillary Clinton, I too have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike her, I have actually accomplished something. Mrs. Clinton, flying is an activity not an accomplishment." — remains the most memorable of the nascent race.
Somehow, the press is still openly debating whether to take a Fiorina candidacy seriously. That debate should end. Carly Fiorina is most certainly a serious presidential candidate.
Still, even as her public profile has risen — she has enjoyed by my observation more favorable national press coverage than Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin — and even as she's connected with Republican audiences at cattle calls, her support has hovered in Celiac disease range, with just about one percent of the GOP electorate supporting her candidacy.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fiorina has an iceberg ahead: She needs to rank among the top 10 Republicans who primary voters support before the middle of July. If not, she'll be banned from the debates, and she can spend a hot August in sunny California.
Half of Americans haven't heard of Walker, but he's shooting up in the polls. It's hard to find data that tells us anything about Fiorina's support, not because she's being ignored, but because pollsters aren't finding enough people who say they are for her candidacy. She's registering in the moment, but she's not making a long-term impression. When you can please crowds, but you can't move them to vote for you, you're stuck. Fiorina is stuck.
She has a month and a half to get unstuck. But here's her dilemma: When she sticks to Clinton criticism, she attracts the press and attention. For her to break out of the pack, she needs to distinguish herself from the men she's running against, and that means she'll need to set aside the Clinton stuff and start to focus on what makes her different.
The Clinton stuff does work in the moment. In speeches in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma, Fiorina has gotten standing ovations for her direct attack on Clinton's core character. Clinton, she says, is an ethical hot mess, entitled, secretive, and untrustworthy. "We have to hold her to account," she told an interviewer. "There's a whole raft of things Hillary Clinton has never explained satisfactorily."
In an interview with Andrea Mitchell, Fiorina delivered a pitch-perfect encapsulation of the facts that Republicans hope voters will keep in mind next fall about Hillary Clinton
It's time for Fiorina to move beyond Clinton. Fiorina is a deft deliverer and packager of policy, an avid reader and interpreter of the news, and has all the right things to say, substantively. As a former CEO, she might be as crafty a communicator as Mike Huckabee is, and unlike Huckabee, she's not self-absorbed — not to an unusual degree, anyway, and she doesn't come off that way to voters. She has also motivated many people with her discussion of faith.
But if Wednesday is any indication, Fiorina might have decided to double down by being even more aggressive with Clinton.
In South Carolina, she was dogged by reporters who all but accused her of shadow-boxing. She held a press conference at a hotel where Hillary Clinton was slated to speak. Fiorina seemed exasperated by those questions, and she did not convincingly make the case that her obvious attempt to dog Clinton was anything other than an obvious attempt to dog Clinton, and in so doing, draw more attention to herself.
It's not the most artful strategy, but it's what Fiorina has going for. And she has a month and a half to make it work.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.
-
5 hilarious cartoons about the RNC's MAGA takeover
Cartoons Artists take on RNC funding, Lara Trump, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Trump's presidential run: a bad bet for Republicans?
Talking Point The GOP is taking a 'big gamble' on former president's 2024 White House bid
By The Week UK Published
-
Iran at the crossroads: have the mullahs lost their grip?
In Depth Iranian voters delivered a 'stinging rebuke' to the regime in parliamentary elections
By The Week UK Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Xi-Biden meeting: what's in it for both leaders?
Today's Big Question Two superpowers seek to stabilise relations amid global turmoil but core issues of security, trade and Taiwan remain
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Will North Korea take advantage of Israel-Hamas conflict?
Today's Big Question Pyongyang's ties with Russia are 'growing and dangerous' amid reports it sent weapons to Gaza
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published