At high noon on Friday, Republican candidates Tom Campbell, Chuck DeVore, and Carly Fiorina squared off in the first debate of their primary campaign for U.S. Senate here in California — and it sure didn’t take long for the gloves to come off.
The LA Times called it “a tense first debate” as the trio “traded foreign policy insults” amidst a flurry of harsh charges and countercharges. By attempting to outdo each other in their strident efforts to woo the extreme right-wing voters who have a critical role in selecting the Republican nominee, each of the threesome proved to be out of touch with mainstream California values and priorities.
Of course this was just a preview of the aggressive, negative attacks that our Republican opponents will continue to hurl at Barbara Boxer and her record of accomplishment for California. Clearly, whichever GOP candidate wins in June will be coming after Barbara Boxer hard all summer and through Election Day.
We need to be ready. Can we count on your help today?
Among the specific charges from the debate, Campbell was called “a friend to our enemies” by DeVore, while Fiorina implied that Campbell is anti-Israel.
Fiorina was pressed to defend her various explanations of HP’s involvement with Iran, “specifically the actions of a Hewlett-Packard subsidiary that sold printers to Iran, which is subject to a trade embargo,” the LA Times reported. According to the Times, “Hewlett-Packard cut off ties to the United Arab Emirates-based subsidiary after reports came out about the sales in 2009, four years after she was fired from the company.”
The Fox and Hounds blog concluded that Fiorina “managed the terrible trick of managing to sound defensive even when she was attacking” and declared DeVore the “clear winner of the encounter.”
Well, if this is how our Republican opponents campaign against members of their own party in a primary, we can only imagine how the ultimate GOP nominee will ratchet up their attacks on Barbara.
It’s time to prepare for the general election campaign — and we don’t have any time to lose. There are only 12 weeks left until the primary is over and the general election begins!
Contribute today — and help us prepare to face the Republican nominee!
Friday’s debate was just a sneak preview of things to come. We’ve got to get ready for anything our ultimate Republican opponent throws our way.
Let’s make sure we don’t look back after June’s primary election and wish we had done more to prepare now, while we had time.
We’re already seeing the kind of campaign we’ll be facing all summer and fall — so please contribute now, and help us get ready for the tough campaign ahead.
I know that this debate made me even more convinced that we need to do everything we can to make sure Barbara Boxer is reelected in November.
Thanks again!