Carly Fiorina Eyes 2016 GOP Presidential Bid

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

UPDATE: It's official. See The New Carly For President Website Here

There is a renewed drive for women taking on leadership roles in both business and politics and one glaring example of this is Carly Fiorina. Fiorina previously served as chief executive officer of HP from 1999 to 2005 and was also an executive at AT&T and the company's equipment and technology spinoff Lucent and the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.

What makes this woman remarkable is the fact that during her time at HP Fiorina was considered one of the most powerful women in the business and was able to power through things like the collapse of the dot-com bubble and the merger with Compaq, making HP the largest personal computer manufacturer in the world.

In the world of politics Fiorina served as an adviser to 2008 Presidential hopeful John McCain and was also the Republican nominee for the United States Senate from California in 2010. In more recent political news, Fiorina is eyeing a run at the 2016 GOP Presidential candidacy.

Fiorina has been talking privately with potential donors, recruiting campaign staffers and mingling with grass-roots activists in early caucus and primary states and is also planning trips to states like Iowa and New Hampshire. However, there are some challenges the Fiorina faces moving forward.

Despite seeking public office before, Fiorina has never actually held the position. Some problems from her failed campaign for the California Senate could also cause problems and undercut her image as an effective manager. Fiorina still owes around $500,000 to consultants and staggers from her 2010 Senate run, which isn't sitting well with some folks.

Proponents of Fiorina speak highly of the Presidential hopeful. Top GOP Strategist David Carney says of Fiorina, "She's very articulate, she's very thoughtful and has a very positive message. She's got just as much of a record of accomplishment and a story and ideas as anybody else who's running."

In August 2013, conservative Newsmax magazine named Fiorina among the "25 Most Influential Women in the GOP".

For the latest news on Carly Fiorina visit her site entitled the "Up-Project".

Update - Carly Fiorina delivers a passionate speech at the Iowa Faith And Freedom Coalition’s Spring Kickoff 2015.

Karen Harrington - Keeping Debbie Wasserman-Schultz Down To Size

Growing up in Cleveland I learned many various lessons, none more important than when I would come across a challenge or crossroads. Such was the case, in what may seem silly now, at a time when I was 4 and standing in my yard.

I was no bigger then 3 feet tall and I wanted to climb an extremely large oak tree. I would jump repeatedly up and down trying with every last ounce of my energy to catch the first branch.

Exhausted and frustrated I let out a high piercing scream that generated panic in my mother who heard the scream from inside the house. Racing to my aid and thoroughly giving me the once over for possible fever, lacerations, or broken bones, she was perplexed when she discovered nothing was wrong.

“Why on earth are you screaming?” she said looking at me with her enormous brown eyes.

“Because I can’t climb it,” I sniffed, pointing to the dreaded slender old oak tree.

Laughing and relieved I wasn’t in immediate danger, she brushed my hair back off my face, straightened the beige knit hat on my head and kissed my forehead. “Maybe you will one day, but until then you may just want to stick with something smaller like the swing set.”

Disappointed and having climbed the swing set before due in part to the fact that there was a ladder which made it easy for me to get up the slide, I dried my eyes and scampered up to the top of the swing set from the slide refusing to use the ladder and never letting the behemoth tree disappear from my sights.

Now I am a smart girl, or my grandparents lied to me. But I should have been able to achieve the desired goal of my preschool self, hence the ladder from the swing set. I couldn’t see it because I could never push past the fact it was a BIG tree.

We would eventually move from that house and I would never have the chance to climb the daunting oak. However, I would climb other oaks and maples just as big and metaphorically face challenges throughout my life that would require me to overcome the BIG thought process.

Still, I used to think of that dumb oak from time to time until one day on a visit home I decided to drive past the old house. I remember being excited about seeing the forty-year-old domicile and couldn’t wait to see the huge front yard loaded with trees and the giant hill the aged split-level sat on.

Driving down the street, I felt a nervous pang in my heart at the excitement of seeing the memories of my youth. Filled with hundreds of snippets racing in my blurred memory, I pulled up slowly to the address.

“Wait a minute,” I thought. “This can’t be the house.” Yet it was.

I was stunned, and as I rubbed my eyes in disbelief I thought, the hill I had taken my sled down had to have been MUCH bigger! The yard was not nearly as vast and wide, and the final blow, the scourge of my 4-year-old existence was not as tall. Adding to further my heartbreak, if I used my current adult height (nearly double that of my 4-year-old self), I could reach up and touch the first branch!

As I grew up I came to the understanding that nothing in life is ever as big as it appears: not a tree, a hill, or a challenge. Visiting the house simply cemented that theory.

I know I am being long-winded getting to my point, but look at the current situation the country is in. Is it really as big as one may think? If it is change we want-- is it just the President we have to vote out?

I ask this question in order to present a challenge.

The other night I was watching Huckabee having a Q & A session with the people of South Carolina who were asking questions directed at the five candidates. In Newt Gingrich’s session the question of change came up. His message (as I paraphrase) “As the President I can do nothing alone. We have to create change at all levels, by voting change in the House and the Senate then and only then we will be able to give Americans the change that is needed.”

I looked deeper and I recalled a Twitter conversation with a South Floridian friend. He was telling me about a candidate in Florida’s 20th district he liked and I knew nothing about. I literally gasped when I saw who held the current congressional seat.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

My immediate response was “Whoa! Un-uh, this isn’t happening! She’s everywhere! Who would take on such an enigmatic figure?”

My answer would come in the form of a woman who has been a small business owner and had moved to South Florida as a child. Searching through Karen Harrington’s website (KarenHarringtonForCongress) and plowing through YouTube videos available on her (just by searching name), I became impressed by her accomplishments.

I was mostly taken in by the campaign motto “Fire Debbie”. “Wow! How big is that?” I thought.

Well….Not really. Just like climbing trees and facing challenges, nothing is as big as it appears to be. What once may have looked too big to tackle eventually comes into focus, allowing the learning and growth it takes to go after the goal head on.

If Karen thought something was too big, then she and her sisters wouldn’t have taken the humble family-run restaurant Ricky’s and expanded to three locations employing hundreds of employees. If she thought raising a family was tough, she wouldn’t have gotten married and had three children. If Karen thought she wouldn’t survive, she wouldn’t have beaten cancer.

And if she thought challenging Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was too huge, she wouldn’t be running for Congress in a democratically saturated area again even after losing to Wasserman-Schultz in 2010, not to mention garnering the endorsement of Mark Levin.

Karen is standing up and taking what she has already accomplished in life and adding the fight for change in this country. Just imagine, if Karen were to take this seat away from Wasserman-Schultz, the impact it would have if at the same time the President were voted out of office. The reverberation would be huge. Wasserman-Schultz and the Democratic Party would receive a crushing blow.

Karen is not spending her time looking up at a branch and trying to leap up to catch it. She is being smart by looking at the ground around her and then building a ladder to get to the next level. With each rung she places her foot on she is putting this race into focus and breaking down the unreachable branch of the behemoth in Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and slowly cutting her down to size.

Whether it is climbing trees or ladders of success, it is the steps we take to diminish the immense size of the desired outcome. Just like the tree I thought was too big, unseating Debbie Wasserman Schultz carried the same perception until I discovered a self-driven woman with love for God, family, friends, community and country. She is doing all this with little or no fanfare outside of the 20th district.

Karen, in her own way by taking on this challenge, is an inspiration that should cause us to look within ourselves and act as true patriots. This inspiration can inspire in us the courage to branch out and reclaim the country we so truly love. If she is not afraid to leap from branch to branch, then we shouldn’t be either.

Face it, the old adage is true. Perhaps that is why it is called old and not new. Nothing is ever really as big as it seems.

If you want to learn more about Karen Harrington, I suggested these websites:

http://www.publiusforum.com

http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/11/meet-the-woman-taking-on-debbie-wasserman-schultz/#ixzz1UjbCPXRo).

If you wish to support Karen Harrington:

http://www.karenforcongress.com/

http://www.FireDebbie.com/

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About the author: Beth Pepoy has written several published articles for Yahoo Voices and for Yahoo News. She has been featured on the website PolitiJim’s Rants for Reasonable People, and has been published on several on line newspapers including Redeye Daily.

She currently blogs on her own site: http://runinmystocking.wordpress.com and has been nominated for a Shorty Award.

Beth resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

You can follow Beth on twitter: https://twitter.com/Bpepoy

The author welcomes feedback and comments, and is not affiliated with Karen Harrington For Congress.

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NFRW: Year of the Republican Woman

Sandy Adams won her Representative Seat in the 34th District of Florida. Adams is a member of the Atlantic RW branch of the NFRW. Congratulations Sandy Adams, this is your year.

The National Federation of Republican Women is calling this, the Year of Republican Women. The organization is "Celebrating Victory as Voters Take Back America!"

From the NFRW website:

Republican Women Make Historic Election Gains Across Nation
Republican women enjoyed widespread success in the general election and made a significant contribution to the historic federal and state gains made by the GOP. Both incumbents and newcomers were popular with voters, and several milestones were crossed.

It truely is the year of the Republican woman as evidenced by a 75,000 member increase in the NFRE. In a press release dated November 17, 2010, the NFRW stated:

Lynch attributes the NFRW's membership gains to many factors, including improved dissemination of information, expanded public relations and outreach efforts which have included national media exposure, increased usage of new media such as Facebook and Twitter, and collaboration with like-minded groups. Lynch says the elections also played a role. Republican women were energized by the Republican message and by the quality of Republican candidates, particularly the distinguished group of Republican women running at the federal and state levels.

Key Statistics from the Recent Election

Every incumbent Republican woman running for federal or statewide office won reelection Tuesday, with the exception of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, whose race is still undecided.

According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), at least eight new Republican women won seats in the U.S. House, beating the previous record of seven Republican women newcomers in a single election. In addition, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire won her race for the U.S. Senate. Two additional Republican women are still waiting for final calls on their close House races.

At the state level, three new Republican women were elected governor: Susana Martinez of New Mexico, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and Nikki Haley of South Carolina. In addition, Jan Brewer won reelection as governor of Arizona, and at least a dozen Republican women were newly-elected to other statewide offices.

Republican women also made gains in state legislatures across the nation. The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that preliminary data shows Republican women gained more than 100 seats in state legislatures, from 529 in 2010 to 633 in 2011.

Founded in 1938, the NFRW has thousands of active members in local clubs across the nation and in several U.S. territories, making it one of the largest women’s political organizations in the country. The grassroots organization works to promote the principles and objectives of the Republican Party, elect Republican candidates, inform the public through political education and activity, and increase the effectiveness of women in the cause of good government.

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Women in Elective Office

In 2010, 90 women serve in the U.S. Congress. A record 17 women serve in the Senate, and 73 women serve in the House. The number of women in statewide elective executive posts is 72, while the proportion of women in state legislatures is 24.4 percent.

It is expected that Women of the GOP will pickup many seats this November despite Emily's List Attack on Rebuplican Women.

Here is the most recent statistics regarding women in eletive offices in the US.

CONGRESS
Women hold 90, or 16.8%, of the 535 seats in the 111th U.S. Congress -- 17, or 17.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 73, or 16.8%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.

• Seventeen women (4R,13D) serve in the Senate.
• Seventy-three women (17R, 56D) serve in the House.

STATEWIDE ELECTIVE EXECUTIVE OFFICES
In 2010, 72 women hold statewide elective executive offices across the country; women hold 22.9% of the 315 available positions. This is less than the number of women -- 88, or 27.4% -- serving in 2002.

Governor - 6 (3R, 3D)

Lieutenant Governor - 9 (3R, 6D)

Attorney General - 4 (4D)

Secretary of State - 12 (2R, 10D)

State Treasurer - 10 (2R, 8D)

State Comptroller - 4 (2R, 2D)

State Auditor - 8 (3R, 5D)

Chief State Education Official - 5 (1R, 3D, 1NP)

Commissioner of Insurance - 3 (1R, 2D)

Commissioner of Labor - 1R

Corporation Commissioner - 3 (2R, 1D)

Public Service Commissioner - 5 (5D)

Public Regulation Commissioner - 1D

Railroad Commissioner - 1R


STATE LEGISLATURES
In 2010, 1,799 (24.4%) of the 7,382 state legislators in the United States are women. Women currently hold 435 (22.1%) of the 1,971 state senate seats and 1,364 (25.2%) of the 5,411 state house seats. The number of women serving in state legislatures has increased more than four-fold since 1971.

The states with the highest percentages of women state legislators are:

New Hampshire – 37.5%
Vermont – 37.2%
Colorado – 37.0%
Minnesota – 34.8%
Hawaii – 32.9%
Washington – 32.7%
Nevada – 31.7%
Connecticut – 31.6%
Arizona – 31.1%
Maryland – 30.9%


MAYORS
As of February 2010, of the 100 largest cities in the United States, 7 had women mayors: Baltimore, Md.; Fresno, Calif.; Tampa, Fla.; Stockton, Calif.; Glendale, Ariz.; Chula Vista, Calif.; and, Houston, Texas.

As of January 2010, of the 249 mayors of cities with populations over 100,000, 36 (14.5%) were women. Of the 1,158 mayors of cities with populations over 30,000, 204 (17.6%) were women.

Source: Center for American Women and Politics, Rutgers University (Updated: 04/10)

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Condoleezza Rice & Aretha Franklin Raise Money for Children

What do you get when you put a former Secretary of State together with the Queen of Soul? Apparently, you get beautiful music and lots of money raised for a good cause. Dr. Condoleezza Rice and Aretha Franklin took the stage together at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia last week. Their goal was to raise money for music and arts awareness for children in Detroit and Philadelphia's inner city schools.
Before a crowd of over 8,000 people Franklin and Rice performed two songs together: "I Say a Little Prayer" and "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Earlier in the three-hour concert Rice also played a selection from Mozart's "Piano Concert No. 20 in D Minor." During her tenure as Secretary of State, many people were surprised to learn Rice was not only an important diplomat but a classically trained pianist as well.
Rice and Franklin first met at a White House event several years ago. The two were chatting when Franklin suggested they do a duet together. Franklin said she was surprised that Rice "really does play" and called her "formidable." According to the Associated Press, Rice said this particular night was born out of both women's desire to keep music accessible to children.

Music has always been close to the former Secretary's heart. Rice began taking piano lessons at the age of three and gave her first recital at the age of four. Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Rice became known as a musical prodigy in the area and could often be found playing at community events and schools. When she was 15, she played at the Denver Symphony and though she does not play professionally, she does play regularly with a chamber music group in Washington, DC. She has performed for Queen Elizabeth and played alongside cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
She has stated that her favorite composer is Johannes Brahms because his music is "passionate but not sentimental." She has also said her favorite band is Led Zeppelin. Rice's name even has a musical background. Her mother, Angelena, a teacher and church organist, loved opera so much that she named her daughter after an Italian music term "con dolcezza." It means "to play with sweetness."

Suggested Read:
THE NEW NORMAL: DOING MORE WITH LESS IN EDUCATION

Most Hated Women of the GOP

When it comes to the American Left, negative feelings towards anyone on the other side, especially anyone who is successful, run rampant. And it's that kind of attitude that's prompted the editorial team at Townhall.com to compile a list of the "100 Americans the Left Hates Most." As you can imagine, many of our favorite GOP women made the list. Here is a look at the ones who did and how they manage to get under the skin of liberals.

#2: Sarah Palin - It's no surprise Sarah Palin tops the list at number two (just behind TV and radio host Glenn Beck). When GOP presidential nominee John McCain chose her as his running mate, the right immediately embraced her and the left immediately tried to find something wrong with her. They attacked her looks, her family, and her patriotism. They attacked her success in raising her family and success in her career. They attacked her Conservatism and they attacked her strong will. But in the end, Palin continues to be a start among Conservatives, Republicans, and Tea Partiers, and you can bet that really makes the Left mad.

#5: Ann Coulter - Love her or hate her, you have to respect her for saying what she thinks and not letting anyone or anything keep her from speaking her mind. Writer and political commentator Ann Coulter has been telling it like it is about liberals for years and causing controversy wherever she goes. Political correctness isn't something Coulter knows anything about and for that reason alone, the Left can't stand her.

#6: Michelle Malkin - Michelle Malkin has become a Conservative star in recent years. She blogs, she writes columns and best-selling books, and she appears on Fox News, exposing left-wing hate like no one else can. The victim of everything from racist remarks to personal threats, Malkin seems to get under the skin of every liberal she crosses.

#10: Michele Bachmann - Bachmann, a Conservative Congresswoman from Minnesota tops the list for many of the same reasons as Sarah Palin. She has made a name for herself as a woman with a family and a career, but she touts Conservative values verses wild left-wing feminist views. She's been a strong voice against Obama's health care plan and a strong voice for the tea party movement. This fall, she is up for re-election and the Left is doing everything it can to stop her.

#17: Laura Ingraham Anyone who listens to Laura Ingraham's radio show knows she's in a constant battle against the left to prevent the perversion of our culture by left-wingers who think their way is the only way. Whether she's debating politics or promoting conservatives in Hollywood, Ingraham is always on the lookout for liberals who want to ruin the country.

Other GOP women who made the list? Hannah Giles, the young journalist who posed as a prostitute and brought down ACORN; Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona who is doing what the federal government won't do: standing up to illegal immigration; Liz Cheney, co-founder of Keep America Safe and strong voice for American security; Condoleezza Rice former Secretary of State under President George W. Bush; Phyllis Schlafly, columnist and author; Peggy Noonan, columnist, author, and former assistant to President Ronald Reagan; and S.E. Cupp, author, commentator, and columnist.

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Women of the GOP In the News: Governors Race Edition

As election time draws closer, several Republican women are making headlines, all across the country. Here is a look at some who are running for governor and have been in the news this week:

- In January, we wondered if New Mexico would see a female governor. Tuesday, that prediction became a reality when prosecutor and Dona Ana County district attorney Susana Martinez won the Republican nomination for governor. Martinez, whose entry into the race was called a "game-changer" by the media, will face Democrat Diane Denish. There are a lot of "firsts" in this race. Either woman has the chance at becoming the first female governor in the state, while Martinez is also the first Hispanic woman of either party to be nominated for governor of any of the fifty states. Also, this is only the third time in United States history that two women will go head-to-head in a gubernatorial general election.

- Former Georgia Secretary of State and current gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel might have been pretty shocked when pro-life group Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) failed to endorse her this week, considering she has definitely established herself as a pro-life candidate. Handel, who has spoken publicly about her inability to have children of her own, disagrees with the group's desire to prohibit invitro fertilization and fertility treatments. She has also stated that, like many pro-lifer's, she believes abortion should be allowed in the case of rape or incest. Unfortunately, GRTL president Dan Becker chose to twist Handel's words, by saying, "...she does not believe that an embryonic human is a child,” something Handel immediately denied. Becker also used very insensitive language to describe women who are incapable of conceiving, which probably didn't help his case with several female voters in the Peach State.

- South Carolina's sweetheart, Nikki Haley, also found herself fighting false allegations this week, when blogger Will Folks decided to announce he'd had an affair with the gubernatorial candidate. Haley, with her husband by her side, immediately said the allegations were "totally false." Another Women of the GOP fave, Sarah Palin, stood up for Haley by saying, "for traditional media to rely on an accusation via some blog entry is almost laughable, but I know the seriousness of it because that's exactly what my family and colleagues have had to put up with, every single day, for the past couple of years." Former Massachusetts Governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney also voices his support for Haley, who is hoping to replace South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

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