WASHINGTON (MEDIA GENERAL) — Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced Wednesday businesswoman Carly Fiorina would be his vice presidential nominee should he get the Republican nomination.
The question: does it matter?
Fiorina, at one point, took the Republican field by storm earning a spot on a Simi Valley September presidential debate stage with Donald Trump.
A feisty Fiorina gave it to Trump and was rising in the polls. She clocked Trump about his mean comments about her face.
“I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina said.
But just as quickly as she ascended in the polls her candidacy collapsed. The dreams of some Republican women to have Fiorina meet Hillary Clinton for a showdown on a general election debate stage vanished.
The Atlantic reported in February, “Carly Fiorina Drops Out. After a seventh-place finish in New Hampshire, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO is done.”
7th place.
No one is going to accuse her of being a big vote getter.
Yet, Fiorina has credibility in Republican ranks. She ran a respectable presidential campaign and is a highly skilled debater. Ask some of the vanquished candidates who are now on a golf course about Fiorina’s verbal jujitsu.
As a ticket, Cruz-Fiorina is a verbal bulldozing crew. Cruz, in college, romped as a Princeton debater. And Fiorina haters have dubbed her “snarly Carly.”
Fiorina’s business credentials are a mixed bag as most big business folks get tagged. Sometimes to save companies you have to cut jobs. It’s not pretty but its capitalism. Ask Mitt Romney how easy it is to frame a big business background as a contender on the GOP ticket.
She does put a fresh face on Cruz whose middle name these days seems to be “unlikeable.” Cruz struggles in a television age with a not so camera ready mug and a just as pleasant demeanor.
In this case, two may better than one.
As a vice president, the first qualification is the ability to take over for the president should something happen.
Fiorina certainly could step in. The nation won’t spend a second on whether she is qualified.
But, what does Fiorina add?
Her plucky, Washington reform minded spirit already has a patron in this race who is running at the top of the ticket.
Donald Trump.