According to many commentators and Internet users, the winner of the first GOP debate hosted by Fox News was the hardly heard of Carly Fiorina, former chief executive of Hewlett Packard, and the only female fighting for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
The debate Fiorina took part in was not the main one, which was reserved only for the strongest candidates of the White House run. So far, the 60-year-old Fiorina has not been well-known to voters. However, as Fox News reported, it was her name that was Googled most often during the debate. Eighty-three percent of Internet users surveyed by Fox believed she was the winner of the first debate.
She Was Not Chosen for the Main Debate
Polls taken among Republican voters so far had indicated less than 1 percent support for Fiorina, which resulted in her not qualifying for the GOP primary debate broadcast during prime time and participated in by the 10 most prominent Republican candidates, including business magnate Donald Trump and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Fiorina was up against the seven remaining candidates in the “secondary” debate, broadcast on the same day, but earlier, and not during prime time. However, positive comments about Fiorina outdoing rivals with her great performance appeared on Twitter before the debate was even over. “They should invite carly fiorina back for the 9 oclock debate,” tweeted the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. Political analysts for Fox News commented that there seemed to be common agreement that Fiorina was the best.
Republicans Fight for Female Representatives
Since Fiorina revealed her presidential ambitions a few months ago, a rumor had it that her real goal was not the presidential nomination but the nomination for vice president. According to analysts, Republicans may need a female candidate for at least the vice presidential nomination if they want to win votes from women. This need might increase if Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, and according to presidential election polls, she has so far defeated all potential rivals.
During the GOP debate, Fiorina didn’t miss a chance to attack Clinton, emphasizing that the former secretary of state supports abortion and has been involved in numerous scandals, including the email scandal (when it emerged that Clinton used her personal email address to deal with professional matters).
From a Secretary to the Chief Executive of Hewlett Packard
Fiorina attacked Donald Trump as well, accusing him of recently swapping his left-wing views regarding immigration and abortion for conservative ones. “Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on healthcare and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern?” she asked during the debate. In her opinion, the high support for Trump manifests people’s “anger” toward the politicians currently in power.
She fiercely criticized Obama’s foreign policy, in particular the recent nuclear weapons deal with Iran. “This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy,” she said. Another participant in the debate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was so impressed that he suggested it should have been Fiorina negotiating the deal with Iran instead of Secretary of State John Kerry.
Fiorina, who comes from Austin, Texas, is the daughter of an artist and a federal judge, and she takes pride in having started her career as a secretary and worked her way up to become the chief executive of a global giant, Hewlett Packard, in 1999.
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