She managed a payroll; she’s used to politics - the corporate variety at least - and at 53, she’s relatively young.
Perhaps it’s no surprise then that Carleton “Carly” Fiorina, the former head of the Hewlett-Packard Co., is being mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate.
“I am so impressed with her,” Republican National Committee Deputy Chairman Frank Donatelli told The Wall Street Journal last week. “We could do a lot worse than Carly.”
But given her tempestuous reign at Hewlett-Packard, it’s also not surprising that the idea of Fiorina being a heartbeat away from the presidency has some bloggers up in arms.
“She screwed up HP,” fired off one contributor to valleywag.com, a site for Silicon Valley tech gossip. “And she collected $42 million in severance pay when she got fired. So, she’s perfect as the GOP VP - unless they can resuscitate Spiro Agnew.”
Fiorina joined the Republican National Committee in March as chair of Victory 08. She defined her job as being “a primary advocate for John McCain and the party.” She also serves as an economics adviser to McCain.
Fiorina traveled with McCain last week on his tour of areas in economic need.
And while on the road, she took part in the rituals of politics, the Journal reported, waving to crowds and joining in with McCain as he sang “We’re Strong for Toledo.”
McCain has given no indication as to whom he might pick to join him as a candidate.
However, he did suggest last week that he would ask Fiorina, as well as Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay Inc., and John Chambers, head of Cisco Systems, Inc., to join him in some capacity if he were elected.
As a vice-presidential candidate, Fiorina would help McCain balance the ticket in several ways. He’s 71, and the conventional wisdom is that he needs a running mate who is appreciably younger than he is.
Also a woman running mate would be seen as a kind of counter to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, should she get the Democratic nomination.
Beyond that, Fiorina meets other Republican litmus tests. She’s opposed to abortion, gun control and tax increases.
However, Fiorina has never run for political office, and her presence on the ballot wouldn’t automatically advance McCain’s chances in any one state, as would the presence of an elected official.
She also brings a lot of baggage from her time at Hewlett-Packard, which she joined as CEO in 1999.
At Hewlett-Packard, Fiorina pushed through a controversial merger with Compaq, cut thousands of jobs and eventually lost the support of her board.
When she was fired in February 2005, she received $21.4 million in cash, plus stock and pension benefits totaling $21 million.
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