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Barbara Boxer, Democratic incumbent


• Boxer was born in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family

• In 1962, she married and graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelor’s degree in Economics

• Worked as a stock broker, while her husband was in law school

• First ran for political office in 1972, but lost a close election


• In the 1970s, Boxer worked for the Pacific Sun as a journalist

• In 1976, she became the first woman president of the Marin Country Board of Supervisors

• She was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982– “Barbara Boxer gives a damn.”– Represented CA District 6 for five

terms

Barbara Boxer, Platforms

• In 1992, Boxer won the seat in the US Senate

• Healthcare: increasing medical research

• Education: federal funding for after-school programs

• Environment: against oil drilling

Carly Fiorina, Republican candidate


• Born in 1954• Went to Stanford, where she met her

husband and married in 1977• In 1984, she divorced him over matters of

money and spending time away• In 1985, she married Frank Fiorina• Fiorina worked at AT&T in management• In 1998, Fortune named her “most

powerful woman in business”• In 1999, Hewlett-Packard named her chief

executive officer


• In 2008, Fiorina joined the McCain presidential campaign

• In 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer

• She has undergone chemotherapy and has been given an excellent prognosis for a full recovery

• “After chemotherapy, Barbara Boxer just isn’t that scary anymore”

Carly Fiorina, Platforms

• Quickly becoming more well-known for her ads than for her platform

• Supporter of Proposition 8• Climate change: examine the

science on an on-going basis• Against efforts to control

greenhouse gases – too destructive

California – basic information

• Population: 36,961,664 for the year 2009

• Most geographically diverse state in the nation

• California’s leading industries:– Leading dairy state– Retired– Lawyers/Law Firms– Securities & Investment– TV/Movies/Music– Real Estate

California Electoral College Votes• With the exception of

1920, California has gained electoral votes from every census since its founding, and will likely gain one more in time for the 2012 election.

• In 1972, California reached 45 electoral votes, passing New York for most in the country.

• With 55 currently, the state has more than 10% of all available electoral votes.

California Voting History

While the growth in the Latino population has helped make California a reliably Democratic state today, this was not always the case. Up until 1992 California was traditionally a Red or a Republican state. However when Bush Sr. left office and Clinton became president California turned Blue and has been a Democratic state since that time.

Makeup of Registered Voters in California

Of the 17,304,091 California voters registered for the November 4, 2008 general election

• 44.4% were Democrats

• 31.3% were Republicans

• 4.4% were affiliated with other political parties

• 19.9% were ("Decline to State") voters

Key Issues For Citizens

FIORINA

•Economy

•Wants to reduce the deficit

•Is in favor of making the "Bush tax cuts” permanent

•“Small businesses and entrepreneurs are the economic engines that will lead us through these difficult times.”

•Environment

•“Bringing relief to California farmers in the Central Valley is one of my highest priorities.”

•“Our focus must be to find efficiencies in the energy production sector and invest in innovation.”

•Health Care

•Believes strongly that every American should have access to quality, affordable health care.

•Believes it’s essential that decisions about care stay in the hands of patients, their families and their doctors.

•Immigration

•“Illegal immigration undermines our security.”

•California Republicans have rejected the idea of a tough immigration law like Arizona's and are reaching out to Latino voters. (hispanictips.com)

Key Issues For Citizens

BOXER

•Economy

•Wants to create thousands of clean energy jobs and make California the hub of the clean energy economy

•Will end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas

•Reduce the deficit.

•Environment

•Boxer is a strong environmental proponent and helped secure the Water Resources Development Act and she sponsored the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, which designated over 273,000 acres in California as wilderness.

•Health Care

•Supports affordable health care for children and she cosponsored the law that created the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

•Immigration

•Boxer is a “vocal advocate for policies to help give Latinos a fair opportunity to achieve the American Dream”.

Newsworthy Topics:

• The Big Issue- Economy• Attacks on Candidate Characters• Focus on a Female vs. Female Race• War Against Incumbents• Possibility of a Red California

Media Coverage of the Race

Prevailing Stories: Economy

• Boxer condemns Fiorina’s 30,000 layoffs as CEO of Hewlett-Packard

• Fiorina outsourced jobs to China while Californians were out of work

• Boxer believes Fiorina does not consider Main Street’s best interests

• Fiorina’s “big business” savvy loses credibility since she was fired with sources telling media her “massive” outsourcing caused her downfall

• HP is giving more donations to Boxer than to its former CEO

• Boxer attacks Fiorina for focusing on big businesses and companies while ignoring typical American workers g Misguided Priorities

• Boxer’s media strategy of associating Fiorina with “Silicon Valley” and venture capitalism strikes a nerve with Fiorina

• Fiorina criticizes Boxer’s endorsement of higher taxes for business during horrible economic state

• California unemployment rates have increased during Boxer’s Senate years

• Fiorina believes removing tax cuts from citizens would be irresponsible and that even the wealthy should receive tax cuts in this recession

• Fiorina wants to install hefty tax cuts for small businesses to allow them to flourish

• She feels that Boxer’s support for government spending, more regulation in business, and more taxes has hurt California

Too Many Taxes vs. Outsourcing of Jobs

http://cdmuirhead.blogspot.com/

• Fiorina focuses on Boxer’s so-called arrogance in her first television advertisement which has gone viral

• Ad begins with Boxer retorting to Army Corps of Engineers Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, "You know, do me a favor, could you say Senator instead of ma'am?

• Fiorina wants to end the arrogance in Washington, which she believes Boxer has accumulated in her 28 years affiliated with politics

• Boxer is running for a fourth term, despite a mediocre approval rating

• 43% of registered CA voters disapprove of her job as Senator since 1992 (San Francisco Chronicle June/July 2010 Field Poll)

• San Francisco Chronical Editorial page states that she has failed to “distinguish herself” in her 18 years as Senator

• Fiorina was caught critiquing Meg Whitman’s appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox news show, adding fuel to the stories that these individuals do not get along

• Former CEO of HP and of EBay have reportedly had animosity while working in Silicon Valley at same time period

• In September 2008- Fiorina made foolish comment that VP candidate Sarah Palin would not be able to run HP

• Fiorina angered Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) by alluding to a bad working partnership between Feinstein and Boxer who have worked together for 18 years

• On a MSNBC interview, she was once again caught in open mike, this time calling Boxer’s hair “so yesterday” among other various criticisms

Prevailing Stories: Candidate Character

Boxer’s arrogance vs. Fiorina’s “loose lips”

• First time in California history that two women have competed against each other for a California Senate seat

• Fiorina would be the first female Republican Senator

• Both are trying to use their femininity to appeal specifically to female voters both in domestic spheres and the working force

• In the media- Fiorina, Whitman, and Boxer have been type-casted as strong women and portrayed as having girl vs. girl rivalries

• After June 9 th- News correspondents all over the nation framed the primary wins with such titles as “Ladies Night” and “Women Deliver,” which John Stewart parodied in a montage of news broadcasts

• Fiorina uses her past struggle with breast cancer to gain sympathy from females who may not typically feel a connection with the CEO powerhouse

• Boxer has used her female status as an advantageous selling point in previous elections

• Fiorina has proved to have staying power after sinking millions of her own money into the campaign, embodying the image of a self-made woman

• She defeated Tom Campbell and Chuck DeVore in a three way primary

Prevailing Stories: Power to the Women

Unique Female vs. Female Race

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• Boxer is framed in accordance with anti-incumbent sentiments yet as John Stewart points out, 82 of 84 incumbents won their respected primaries

• Democrats are growing increasingly pessimistic about CA which may provide an opportunity for Fiorina to win the typically blue state

• 78% of polled self-identified Democrats and Republicans said the state is on the “wrong track” (Reuters/lpos poll June 25 th)

• Frustrated citizens may be willing to re-evaluate voting in accordance to party affiliations

• Boxer has not proven herself as a superwoman in times of distress

• Fiorina’s is using Boxer’s shortcomings to her advantage by depicting herself as prepared for change

• Fiorina to Tea Partiers: We must join as one party- the “Had Enough” party

• National Republicans are spending more money on advertising in Washington, Wisconsin, and California (formerly all-blue states) because this year there is momentum on the Republican side

• However, Boxer has easily raised 15 million and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee’s 1.75 million won’t do much

• California’s despairing economy has caused many irritated citizens to look for someone to blame a Many look to Boxer as their scapegoat

• Boxer does not have many outstanding accomplishments to list and is losing support even among Democrats

Prevailing Stories: War Against Incumbents

Incumbents framed as especially disadvantaged in 2010

T-Shirts can be found at Zazzle.com

• Fiorina supports offshore drilling and Proposition 23 which would suspend a law cutting greenhouse emissions

• She supports the death penalty when deserved

• Wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade which many say may cost her the nomination in the typically liberal state

• Other Republican politicians, such as former governor Schwarzenegger, support Roe vs. Wade

• She strongly defends the Arizona immigration law, even critiquing the Federal Government for weak security on the Mexico-US border

• Large Latino populations have an influence in elections and are reluctant to endorse a GOP candidate like Fiorina, especially one against health care and immigration

• 38 point lead for Boxer in Latino community (Times/USC)

Prevailing Stories: Will California “Turn Red”?Is Fiorina too Republican or just Republican enough?

Is Fiorina too conservative for even the most dissatisfied Democrats?

ca final presentation

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