Fiorina makes presidential pitch in Las Vegas
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina told a Las Vegas audience Saturday that Americans have grown accustomed to the notion of only career politicians seeking election.
"Somehow we have gotten used to the idea that only professional politicians can run for office," she said at an NVGOP Women‘s event at The Bootlegger Italian Bistro, emphasizing her background as a business woman. "It is not how our nation was founded."
The event was one of two speaking engagements she scheduled in Las Vegas. The other was to be held in the evening at Maverick PAC USA‘s annual conference at The Venetian, where presidential candidate Jeb Bush spoke Friday night.
Fiorina, 60, was chairwoman and chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard for six years, leaving in 2005. She ran for a U.S. Senate seat in California in 2010, losing to Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer.
Fiorina drew loud applause from the audience of about 350 when she took aim at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Fiorina said Clinton must not be president because she is "not trustworthy" and "lacks a track record of leadership."
The potential of the United States is being crushed by the "creeping corruption of the federal government," she said.
She didn‘t lay the blame for that problem solely on the Obama administration.
"This has been going on for a long time, folks," she said. "Every government agency has gotten bigger and bigger for almost 50 years."
She said leadership is needed to solve myriad problems such as border security and the Department of Veterans Affairs‘ bureaucratic approach to providing health care to veterans.
"You name it, it‘s a festering problem," Fiorina said.
She chastised politicians in general for not giving straight answers to questions.
"Folks will come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for answering my questions,‘" she said.
She added: "Honestly, it‘s a pretty low bar, ‘Thank you for answering a question.‘ "
Fiorina is running in a crowded field of more than a dozen Republican candidates. Most polls place her below other higher-profile GOP candidates such as Bush, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and, recently, Donald Trump.
Her supporters hope she‘ll poll well enough to participate in the Republican National Committee-sanctioned debate Aug. 6 and raise her profile. The top 10 GOP candidates based on their standing in polls are picked for that debate.
Saturday was Fiorina‘s first public campaign stop in Las Vegas since announcing her candidacy. She has scheduled campaign appearances in Iowa in the upcoming week.
Contact Ben Botkin at 702-387-2904 or bbotkin@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.
