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Washington (CNN) – A day after the fragile Senate Democratic Caucus rallied to move the Democrats’ health care reform bill to the Senate floor for debate, the woman who wants to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer said Sunday that President Obama will have to “eat his words” on health care reform if the bill becomes law.

After telling CNN Chief National Correspondent John King that she does not support the health care reform bill crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republican Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina took on President Obama over his top domestic agenda item during the first year of his administration.

“If you listen to what the President Obama said about this health care proposal, even he agreed with me. He said he wouldn’t sign into law a bill that increased the deficit. He said he wouldn’t sign into law a bill that increased the cost of health care. If this bill goes through, President Obama will have to eat his words or break his promise.”

Depending on what time frame is used to analyze the costs and revenues associated with the bill, Republicans and Democrats dispute whether the Reid bill is deficit-neutral. And Fiorina’s assertion that the Reid bill would increase health care costs is the criticism often leveled by conservatives against the new taxes that would be levied in order to pay for some of the bill’s costs, and to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office which found that premiums in the public health insurance option would be higher than average because people taking advantage of the public option would be sicker than the rest of the population.

“I agree with the goals of health care reform,” Fiorina also told King. “What I strenuously disagree with is [the idea] that this bill, or the one that made it through the House, solves the problem in any way.”

Fiorina, a breast cancer survivor, also took issue with new recommendations from an independent task force as to when and how often women should get mammograms.
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Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET with Fiorina's remarks

(CNN) - Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina finally made it official Wednesday: She's running for Senate in California.

The first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company made the announcement at an event in conservative Orange County, pledging her focus will be on "economic recovery and fiscal accountability."

"The decisions made in Washington impact every family and every business, of any size, in America. Throughout my career I've brought people together and solved problems and that is what I plan to do in government-set aside ego and partisanship and work to develop solutions to our problems," she told supporters.

"I will not settle for a jobless recovery and we must start the important work of getting our financial house back in order," Fiorina added. "Washington must show discipline to cut spending and create policies that encourage and empower businesses and put people back to work."

Fiorina, considered to be a moderate Republican with little history on social issues, will face off against conservative California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore for the GOP nomination. In a friendly statement Wednesday, DeVore said he looks forward "to engaging [her] on the issues Californians care about."

A recent Field poll suggested both Fiorina and DeVore polled at about 20 percent, with 60 percent of Republican voters undecided.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – Carly Fiorina, a likely Republican candidate for Senate in California, made public on Tuesday what her GOP primary opponent Chuck DeVore has long claimed: that the national party is supporting her bid to take out Sen. Barbara Boxer next year.

"The chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee has encouraged me to enter the race, reaffirming my belief that Chuck DeVore can not beat Barbara Boxer," Fiorina said Tuesday, according to SanDiegoNewsRoom.com.

That remark elicited a swift I-told-you-so from DeVore, who for months has accused NRSC chairman John Cornyn of unfairly meddling in the Republican primary on behalf of Fiorina, the millionaire former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who was a frequent surrogate for John McCain during the 2008 presidential race.

"We know that the entire Fiorina campaign is predicated on a recruiting effort by the NRSC," DeVore told CNN. "They may have an official policy of neutrality, but I know why she's running. It's because she was recruited."

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(CNN) – Two Republican statewide candidates in California are touting the results of a state GOP convention straw poll that showed conservative activists overwhelmingly rejecting the gubernatorial bid of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and the likely Senate bid of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

The campaign of gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner boasted about his 64-point victory over Whitman in Sunday's straw poll on their Web site and on Twitter. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore's campaign touted their own dominating win over Fiorina - 91 percent to six percent - in a campaign e-mail celebrating their success at this weekend's Fall convention in Indian Wells.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee then jumped on the news of Fiorina's loss as a sign of tension within the California Republican ranks, and shopped the poll results to Washington reporters.

One problem: There was no official straw poll at the California Republican Party Convention.

"We did not conduct a straw poll at this convention whatsoever," California GOP chairman Ron Nehring said in an e-mail.

So who did? An aide to DeVore - a state Assemblyman who has actively courted the party's conservative wing as he prepares to battle Fiorina for the Republican Senate nomination - acknowledged that Sunday's poll was engineered by the DeVore campaign, even though it was described as a "CRP straw poll" in an e-mail to supporters.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – As former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina prepares to enter the 2010 California Senate race on the GOP side, her quirky new Web site is being ridiculed by the online community - and not just by those on the political left.

Republicans are also snickering about her bare-bones site, CarlyforCalifornia.com, which launched Monday and welcomes visitors with an animation describing a potential showdown between Fiorina and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in curious terms.

"It's Day and Night," the bright red Web site reads. "It's Dogs and Cats. It's Good and Bad. It's Carly vs. Boxer."

After hinting that the Republican's official entry into the race is "coming soon," the animation concludes with a pun: "Carlyfornia dreamin!!!"

The left leaning Huffington Post called the site "really the most insufferable thing she's ever done in her life." Democrats on Twitter bashed the site as "embarrassingly awful" and told Fiorina to scale back her use of exclamation points. And a YouTube video mocking the site has so far eclipsed 15,000 views.

But several Web-savvy Republicans are also taking aim.

"It's the most singularly awful political website I have ever seen, and I am including all the old, basic HTML websites that were the rage 10 years ago," conservative blogger John Hawkins of the site RightWingNews.com said in an e-mail to CNN. "Why not toss in G.I. Joe vs. Cobra, Ninjas vs. Pirates, and Kennedy versus Kruschev if it's going to be a goofy joke? There's very little information on it to appeal to voters."

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – As former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina prepares to enter the 2010 California Senate race on the GOP side, her quirky new Web site is being ridiculed by the online community - and not just by those on the political left.

Republicans are also snickering about her bare-bones site, CarlyforCalifornia.com, which launched Monday and welcomes visitors with an animation describing a potential showdown between Fiorina and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in curious terms.

"It's Day and Night," the bright red Web site reads. "It's Dogs and Cats. It's Good and Bad. It's Carly vs. Boxer."

After hinting that the Republican's official entry into the race is "coming soon," the animation concludes with a pun: "Carlyfornia dreamin!!!"

The left leaning Huffington Post called the site "really the most insufferable thing she's ever done in her life." Democrats on Twitter bashed the as site "embarrassingly awful" and told Fiorina to scale back her use of exclamation points. And a YouTube video mocking the site has so far eclipsed 15,000 views.

But several Web-savvy Republicans are also taking aim.

"It's the most singularly awful political website I have ever seen, and I am including all the old, basic HTML websites that were the rage 10 years ago," conservative blogger John Hawkins of the site RightWingNews.com said in an e-mail to CNN. "Why not toss in G.I. Joe vs. Cobra, Ninjas vs. Pirates, and Kennedy versus Kruschev if it's going to be a goofy joke? There's very little information on it to appeal to voters."

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(CNN) - Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is taking the initial steps to challenge California Democrat Barbara Boxer for her Senate seat, a move that could lay the groundwork for one of the most high profile and expensive contests of 2010.

Fiorina, the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company and a former surrogate for John McCain's presidential bid, filed a tax identification number and registered a campaign committee with the IRS Tuesday called "Carly for California."

"The people of California have serious concerns about job creation, economic growth and the role of government in solving problems that touch each of ourlives," Fiorina said in a statement. "I have received a great deal of encouragement to make a run for the Senate in 2010 from people across the political spectrum because these are all issues that need focused attention in Washington, D.C."

Under the new committee, Fiorina will begin to aggressively raise money as well as speak with policy experts and campaign advisors, spokeswoman Beth Miller told CNN.

Boxer's campaign coffers are already loaded: the three-term senator's latest filing with the Federal Elections Commission shows she raised well over $2 million during the first half of the year and has close to $5.5 million cash on hand.

Though Fiorina does not have a set timetable to formally announce a Senate bid, Miller said the former Hewlett-Packard CEO's window to make a decision is only a couple of months given a GOP primary is set for next June.

A former economic adviser and visible presence on cable news, Fiorina was largely sidelined from public appearances from the McCain campaign after telling an interviewer she didn't think either member of the GOP presidential ticket was qualified to run a major company.

Democrats wasted little time in attacking Fiorina's latest move.

“This is a person who was fired from Hewlett Packard for running the company into the ground, fired from the McCain Presidential Campaign for incompetence, and now thinks the people of California are going to hire her," said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Eric Schultz.

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(CNN) - Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is taking the initial steps to challenge California Democrat Barbara Boxer for her Senate seat, a move that could lay the groundwork for one of the most high profile and expensive contests of 2010.

Fiorina, the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company and a former surrogate for John McCain's presidential bid, filed a tax identification number and registered a campaign committee with the IRS Tuesday called "Carly for California."

"The people of California have serious concerns about job creation, economic growth and the role of government in solving problems that touch each of ourlives," Fiorina said in a statement. "I have received a great deal of encouragement to make a run for the Senate in 2010 from people across the political spectrum because these are all issues that need focused attention in Washington, D.C."

Under the new committee, Fiorina will begin to aggressively raise money as well as speak with policy experts and campaign advisors, spokeswoman Beth Miller told CNN.

Boxer's campaign coffers are already loaded: the three-term senator's latest filing with the Federal Elections Commission shows she raised well over $2 million during the first half of the year and has close to $5.5 million cash on hand.

Though Fiorina does not have a set timetable to formally announce a Senate bid, Miller said the former Hewlett-Packard CEO's window to make a decision is only a couple of months given a GOP primary is set for next June.

A former economic adviser and visible presence on cable news, Fiorina was largely sidelined from public appearances from the McCain campaign after telling an interviewer she didn't think either member of the GOP presidential ticket was qualified to run a major company.

Democrats wasted little time in attacking Fiorina's latest move.

“This is a person who was fired from Hewlett Packard for running the company into the ground, fired from the McCain Presidential Campaign for incompetence, and now thinks the people of California are going to hire her," said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Eric Schultz.

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(CNN) - Barack Obama is targeting a John McCain advisor's former compensation as a Fortune 500 CEO in a new television ad running nationally.

The 30-second spot goes after executive pay and is specifically critical of Carly Fiorina, the current McCain advisor who was ousted as the head of Hewlett-Packard in 2005. The company doled out $21 million in severance to her, and reportedly another $21 million worth of stock and pension.

"John McCain's advisor, Carly Fiorina. The fired CEO who left with $42 million," the ad's narrator says. "Barack Obama says it's got to change."

The ad, called "Parachute," also attacks Washington Mutual CEO Alan Fishman, who reportedly could get $19 million worth of compensation, even though the bank failed last week.

"You've got corporate executives who are giving themselves million dollar golden parachutes and leaving workers high and dry," Obama says in the ad. "That's wrong. It's an outrage."

Fiorina had been a prominent surrogate for McCain, but she was promptly removed from the cable news circuit earlier this month after she said neither John McCain no Sarah Palin was qualified to run a major corporation.

(CNN) – Mitt Romney and Carly Fiorina, two high-profile supporters of Sen. John McCain, may just have to agree to disagree.

Watch: Romney on the economy

On Tuesday, Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, said that neither McCain nor his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is capable of running a large corporation like the one she used to head. But Romney, who was a successful businessman before entering politics, has a different opinion.

“I think she’s just misinformed in that regard,” Romney told CNN’s John Roberts on American Morning Wednesday when asked about Fiorina’s comments. “I’d be happy to hire John McCain and Sarah Palin to run a business that I’m an investor in.”

Romney was one of McCain’s fiercest foes during the Republican primaries and often criticized McCain for his lack of economic knowledge. But that criticism ended with the demise of his presidential bid, and Romney has argued for months now that McCain has more knowledge and experience to handle the economy than Sen. Barack Obama.

As the U.S. economy has come under additional stress in recent days with the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros., the quick acquisition of Merrill Lynch, and the federal government’s intervention to prevent the collapse of the nation’s largest insurance company, both McCain and Obama have tried to convince voters that they are best suited to steer the troubled economy. For the second time in as many days, the two campaigns released dueling advertisements about the economy on Wednesday.

(CNN) - Top McCain-Palin official Carly Fiorina is facing criticism from some within the campaign for a day of what they call "very Biden-like" comments, after the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told two separate interviewers that neither member of the Republican ticket would be capable of running a company.

Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden is noted for his off-the-cuff gaffes.

Asked by a St. Louis radio station whether she thought Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin could run a company like Hewlett-Packard, Fiorina responded: "No, I don't.

“But that's not what she's running for. Running a corporation is a different set of things."

Asked about that remark on MSNBC, she made the same unprompted assessment of the GOP presidential nominee. "I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation."

She also said she did not believe Democrats Barack Obama or Joe Biden had the right business background either.

But with the economy center stage in the campaign, the words that gave Democrats easy fodder to attack the Republican ticket.

A top McCain official contacted by CNN said, on condition on anonymity, "No big deal, but not how you get on the surrogate all-star team. Very Biden-like."

“This campaign source said Fiorina would be discouraged from additional media interviews.

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WARREN, Ohio (CNN) – Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO turned John McCain Victory chair, said Tuesday that Sarah Palin isn’t qualified to run her old company.

Appearing on a KTRS Radio show in St. Louis, Fiorina was asked by the host, “Do you think she has the experience to run a major company like Hewlett Packard?”

“No, I don’t,” Fiorina answered. “But that’s not what she’s running for. Running a corporation is a different set of things."

"I would just remind you that it is Barack Obama who is running for president," she continued. "John McCain who is running for president.”

Fiorina contended that while Palin may not be up the task of running a multi-billion dollar IT company, she does have more relevant governing experience than Obama.

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(CNN) - A top aide to John McCain said Monday she thought comedian Tina Fey's impersonation of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin on NBC's Saturday Night Live over the weekend was sexist because it portrayed the Alaska governor as lacking in substance.

The NBC comedy show's season premiere began with a "nonpartisan message" during which Fey's Palin and Amy Poehler's depiction of Hillary Clinton called for an end to sexism in the presidential race.

"The portrait was very dismissive of the substance of Sarah Palin, and so in that sense, they were defining Hillary Clinton as very substantive, and Sarah Palin as totally superficial," Fiorina told MSNBC earlier Monday. "I think that continues the line of argument that is disrespectful in the extreme, and yes, I would say, sexist in the sense that just because Sarah Palin has different views than Hillary Clinton does not mean that she lacks substance."

Watch: 'Palin' makes SNL debut

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO is among McCain's most high profile surrogates and earlier this month was the first member of the Arizona senator's campaign to suggest Democrats were launching sexist attacks at the Republican VP candidate.

"I am appalled by the Obama campaign's attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin’s experience,” Fiorina said then. “The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life."

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