Fiorina, Boxer Rally Supporters To Turn Out Voters
SEAL BEACH (AP) — Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina rallied their supporters Saturday by asking them to send an unmistakable message to the nation's capital.
Fiorina is trying to capitalize on frustrations with the economy and the state's 12.4 percent unemployment rate. By sending someone new to Washington, voters would let federal lawmakers know that it's time for a new agenda that focuses on paring government regulations and spending.
"We can hold Washington accountable. We can get government spending under control," Fiorina told about 250 mostly retirees at a local community center in the Orange County enclave of Seal Beach. "But first we have to vote to change the people we send to Washington."
For Boxer, the message is about avoiding a return to policies that she says were responsible for the economy's troubles in the first place.
Meeting with union supporters in San Jose, Boxer brought up a critical comment Fiorina made months ago about the incumbent's hairstyle, when she was unaware a microphone was live.
"My hair may be very yesterday," Boxer said, "but my policies are about today and tomorrow."
The crowd embraced the theme as Boxer made her case that Fiorina would take the country back to the Bush era, when the federal defict exploded and Wall Street was allowed to operate without strict supervision. In unison, the crowed yelled, "That is so yesterday."
It repeated the chant when Boxer said Fiorina favored overturning Roe v. Wade and when she said Fiorina promoted more offshore oil drilling. Fiorina has said California voters should decide whether they want additional oil rigs off the coast.
The former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive also is trying to counter the impression that she is trailing Boxer with just days to go in the race. A Field Poll released Friday showed Boxer with a lead, 49 percent to 41 percent, with one in 10 voters undecided.
"This is a very tight race and Barbara Boxer knows it," Fiorina said.
She has said Boxer would not be receiving so much help from the White House and fellow Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein if she weren't in trouble.
Boxer, who is seeking a fourth term in the Senate, said she wasn't taking anything for granted.
About 150 union volunteers, including janitors, police officers and firefighters, greeted her at the South Bay Labor Council office in San Jose.
She thanked them for their get-out-the-vote efforts, which included making calls from phone banks, going door-to-door and encouraging those who vote by mail but have not yet turned in their ballots to drop them off at a precinct on Tuesday.
"I'm confident that if people vote we will win, but that's a big if," Boxer told the crowd, saying she needs her supporters to get out and vote. "That's why I'm so psyched to be here and see this incredibly enthusiastic group of people."
She then criticized Fiorina for opposing a $26 billion emergency aid package Congress passed over the summer. Boxer voted for the bill, which is expected to provide enough money to save the jobs of 16,500 teachers and school workers in California who otherwise might have been laid off.
Fiorina had said the package will continue the government's deficit spending, while Boxer noted that it is paid for by raising taxes on some U.S.-based multinational corporations and cutting programs such as food stamps.
Fiorina was returning to the campaign trail after being hospitalized earlier in the week. She had been treated for an infection that stemmed from reconstructive surgery after her successful battle with breast cancer, but said she was fully recovered and ready for a weekend packed with campaign events.
On Saturday, Fiorina stayed on the message she has consistently promoted since she won the GOP primary in June -- that her business experience makes her the best candidate to deal with the nation's economic problems.
She called Boxer a career politician who doesn't understand how to help pull the country out of the Great Recession.
Fiorina also is scheduled to campaign in Sacramento and Chico on Saturday. After leaving San Jose, Boxer was headed to a phone bank at a Democratic Party office in Los Angeles.
(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
