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Five Things You Should Know About Carly Fiorina

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Text JOIN to 736283 (SENATE) to get more updates on Carly Fiorina.

And you thought her kickoff website was bad. “Carlyfornia” is officially in the race, and if she thinks her record will woo voters, she’s in for a rude awakening.

Here are five things you might not know -- but should -- about Carly Fiorina:

1. CEO Fail: Carly Fiorina was named among the nation’s 20 worst CEO’s by Portfolio magazine. No wonder. Under her leadership, Hewlett-Packard’s stock fell 60%, and 28,000 employees were fired. She got fired, too, but her $21 million golden parachute made for a soft landing. Tweet this

2. Iran Dealings? When HP’s stock fell, it wasn’t for lack of selling products – in Iran. Which happens to be illegal. The San Jose Mercury News reported that in the past 12 years, the company has used a Middle East distributor to sell millions of dollars’ worth of merchadise to Iran, “sidestepping a U.S. ban on trade with the country.” Fiorina was CEO from 1999-2005. Tweet this

3. What, Me Vote? Running a company (into the ground) is hard work! A CEO is far too busy to vote! Or so it seems. Fiorina’s voting record looks like Swiss cheese. She cast a ballot in only 6 of 14 elections held since 2000. She even skipped the 2000 and 2004 presidential primaries and the 2003 gubernatorial recall election. If she’s so disdainful of democracy, what makes her think she deserves to represent California in the Senate? Tweet this

4. McCain’s Pain: Pity Fiorina’s poor campaign manager. Fiorina’s tendency to go off the reservation ended her short-lived career as a John McCain for President spokeswoman after she said none of the presidential or vice presidential nominees was qualified to run a major American corporation – including her boss, John McCain. Perhaps he votes too often? Tweet this

5. Primary First: All of this assumes that Fiorina even gets the Republican nomination. That might be assuming too much. Her main competition, State Sen. Chuck DeVore, is the darling of the tea-party set. We've been seeing the fringe element taking over establishment Republicans across the country. Which makes one wonder why Fiorina has been bragging up her support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee. We saw how far national party support took Dede Scozzafava in New York's 23rd District. Tweet this

No doubt: “Carlyfornia” is dreaming if she thinks her record can compete with Sen. Barbara Boxer’s. We guess fantasizing never hurt anyone, though. Dream on, Carly.

P.S.: We can beat Carly Fiorina and other likeminded Republicans – but only if we match them dollar-for-dollar on fundraising. Click here to donate to the DSCC. Preserving our Democratic majority – and chance for lasting change – depends on it!

Crude RNC Memo Leaked

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We knew Republicans were ginning up fears about President Obama and his alleged "socialism" to try to win elections in November, and now we have proof, straight from highest levels of the party.

A confidential Republican National Committee document, left behind after an RNC fundraising retreat in Florida and then leaked to the media, outlines the Republican strategy for raising money this election cycle. It says that Republicans should capitalize on "fear" of President Obama and his "trending toward socialism" to extract cash from donors. A slide titled "The Evil Empire" even shows a picture of President Obama as The Joker, with the word "socialism" underneath.

One word: Disgusting.

But somehow, we're not really surprised. This just appears to be the latest – and most blatant – attempt to delegitimize our president. You've seen the evidence. Suggesting that Obama isn't a "natural-born citizen." Picturing him as a witch doctor with a bone through his nose. Calling him everything from a socialist to a communist to a fascist. The list goes on and on.

Democrats are rightfully up in arms about this disgusting tactic. However, Democrats might not be the only people angry about the RNC's leaked document.

The document shows distain for the Republican Party's own donors. While it says low-information donors will be motivated by fears of Obama and creeping socialism, it also says "tchochkes" and offers of access will appeal to wealthy, "ego-driven" donors.

GOP Scalded by Tea

Republicans soon might wish the Tea Party had never started.

On Saturday, three-term Republican Sen. Bob Bennett failed to get enough votes to compete in the Utah GOP primary on June 22. Why? He just wasn’t conservative enough for a party increasingly driven by the fringe right.

“He’s a moderate, and I don't want a moderate,” delegate Pam Wilson told Politico. “I don’t want somebody on the fence. I want someone completely on the right. I get the rhetoric in Washington that he’s a conservative. I don’t care. I want a conservative who I think is a conservative.”

Utah’s Republican primary voters will choose between Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee. Both advocate revoking citizenship rights for children of undocumented workers born in the United States, shutting down the Department of Education and moving to a highly regressive “flat tax” or "fair tax."

Utah isn’t the only state where the Republican Party is being hijacked:

· In Kentucky, Tea Party activists have lined up behind the Senate candidacy of Rand Paul, son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Paul – who opposes the 1964 Civil Rights Act, wants an electric fence on our nation’s borders and wants to abolish the Department of Education – is leading establishment Republican pick Trey Grayson in recent polls. Kentucky’s primary election is May 18.

· In Maine, delegates to the state’s GOP convention decided to dump the party’s platform in favor of one that’s Tea Party approved. According to the Maine Politics blog, the new platform is a mixture of “right-wing fringe policies, libertarian buzzwords and outright conspiracy theories.” It added that “Dan Billings, who has served as an attorney for the Maine GOP, called the new platform ‘wack job pablum’ and ‘nutcase stuff.’”

First Chickengate, Now Busgate

Sue Lowden sure knows how to keep herself in the headlines – but not in a good way.

First, the Nevada Republican Senate candidate suggested that the cure for our ailing health care system is bartering with your doctor. Such as: I’ll give you three chickens if you give me a checkup, Doc. Not surprisingly, Democrats – and Lowden’s main Republican competitor, Danny Tarkanian – seized upon this tidbit, and made Lowden a national laughingstock.

That was Chickengate. Now, here comes Busgate. It appears that Lowden may have broken campaign finance laws by taking a supporter’s luxury RV to tool around Nevada in comfort and style.

“A campaign contributor is ‘leasing’ Lowden the luxury RV she is using as her campaign bus, according to the Lowden campaign. But her name is on the title with the supporter, Carl Guiduci, which would indicate they co-own the bus,” the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said Lowden broke the law.

“He gave it to her. She owns it. She’s on the title, and it’s in her custody and control. It’s an excessive campaign contribution,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director.

Lowden’s campaign said use of the RV was an “in-kind” contribution that doesn’t violate any rules. In-kind campaign contributions are limited by law to $2,400 per person. Similar luxury RVs cost more than $100,000.

The 2001 Monaco RV has a kitchen, bed, shower and $6,800 in custom signage featuring Lowden’s smiling face.

Coats Lobbied for Bailout Before Blasting It

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Uber-lobbyist Dan Coats just hit another massive pothole on his rocky road back to elected office. It appears that Coats lobbied for the auto bailout. Before he bashed it, that is.

According to records, Coats was registered to lobby for Cerberus Capital, a New York private-equity firm that controlled Chrysler for two years, on “H.R.1424, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008: Treatment of motor vehicle finance companies as financial institutions, disposition of troubled assets, and related issues.” In non-legislative English, that’s the auto bailout. His firm was paid $10,000 for its services.

This all becomes quite awkward now that he’s a Republican Senate candidate carping on about bailouts. It’s almost like living in Virginia for a decade, then wanting to run for the Senate from Indiana.

Oh, wait. He did that, too.

Does the GOP Have a Problem With Women?

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Senator David Vitter might be the rule, not the exception. Republicans appear to have a problem with women. And in the face of a louder and shriller right wing, it's likely to get worse:

• Dede Scozzafava, the Republican candidate for New York's 23rd Congressional District, supported choice and gay rights – like most New Englanders. That was entirely unacceptable to rabid right-wing outsiders. The teabag brigade rallied around conservative Doug Hoffman, forcing Scozzafava out of the race. She endorsed the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens. Make that U.S. Rep. Bill Owens. He now holds the seat that had been in Republican hands since 1872.

• Other candidates might find themselves "Scozzafavaed." California's Carly Fiorina faces a fiery primary challenge from right wing Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. And Minnesota Gov. and presidential wannabe Tim Pawlenty said this about moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine: "We want Olympia Snowe in the big tent, but she can't say she's a Republican and then vote against the Republican position much of the time." A recent poll showed Snowe losing to a generic conservative candidate in a Maine Republican primary 59%-31%.

• Republican recruitment of women is abysmal. According to Politico, "House Republican leaders have spent years trying to bolster female recruitment, often with frustrating results. While the number of Democratic women willing to challenge sitting Republicans keeps rising, recruiting GOP women to challenge Democratic incumbents is becoming harder."

• Maybe this is why: During the health care debate last Saturday, Republicans repeatedly interrupted Democratic representatives speaking in favor of health care reform. Then, in a fit of misogyny, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said both women and smokers incur higher treatment costs, so if being female isn't considered to be a "pre-existing condition," then neither should be smoking. Sessions is charged with recruiting candidates in his position with the National Republican Congressional Committee.

• President Obama can thank women for his most recent promotion. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, women strongly preferred Obama over Republican candidate John McCain, 56 percent to 43 percent. Men were split evenly between the two candidates.

What can we take away from this? In their effort to "purify the party," Republicans most likely will get a party even more male, white and elderly than it already is. Which is great news for us.

And Dede and Olympia? You're more than welcome to join us if you'd like.

The "Birther Five"

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Lest you think that the "birthers" are a teeny, tiny sliver of right-wing wackiness, there are now five Republican Senate candidates who just can't quite bring themselves to say that our president is legitimate.

This is a deliberate tactic and part of a long-held, calculated GOP strategy. If the president isn't Republican, they will push the same lies over and over in an effort to undermine his legitimacy. They tried to discredit and delegitimize President Clinton. Now they're doing the same thing with President Obama by standing with – or winking at – the right-wing fringe.

The Republican Party is running on fears and smears, and these candidates should be ashamed of themselves.

Here are the five GOP Senate candidates who won't answer whether President Obama is a natural-born citizen and thus eligible to be president:

• Rob Portman: After two supporters of the Ohio Republican made birther jokes during a recent appearance, the Cincinnati Enquirer and Plain Dealer asked Portman's campaign whether he believes President Obama is a citizen. He won't answer. Um, Rob? The correct answer is "Yes."

• Rep. Roy Blunt: Back in February, the Missouri congressman and Senate candidate said he didn't know if President Obama was a citizen and called such questions "legitimate." Bull.

• Marco Rubio: Florida's tea party darling said he didn't want to "diminish" people who suspect President Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii. Most likely, he didn't want to diminish donations that come from people who suspect President Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii.

• ; Rand Paul: The Kentucky Republican and son of fringe Congressman Ron Paul has defended birthers. He now calls it a "moot point." Not exactly a full-throated denial.

• Chuck DeVore: The favorite of California's conservatives now says that President Obama is the "rightful" president. Earlier, DeVore had said that "the president is doing himself no favors by spending millions of dollars to block the release of documents surrounding his birth certificate."

See Jane Lie

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Pandering to tea partiers has reached a new level of pathetic, thanks to one Jane Norton.

The Republican Senate candidate has been running a TV ad claiming that she "cut government spending" as head of the state's Department of Public Health and Environment, a position likely to cause swooning and heart palpitations among the tea party set.

There's only one problem. She's lying.

According to Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer, the only person in Colorado who can "cut government spending" is the governor, through vetoing bills or using the line-item veto. Overall spending is set by the legislature.

While one part of Norton's budget did decrease under her watch, two other portions increased dramatically. And critics also contend that while part of her budget did shrink, the department's spending did not.

Running such ads isn't cheap. Norton has already spent $243,000 on TV ads heading into the hotly contested GOP primary. If she emerges as the Republican Senate candidate, she's going to be looking at a major cash disadvantage.

It's only the latest example of Norton's pandering to the tea party crowd. In the past several months, Norton told a tea party crowd that American education would be improved if the U.S. Department of Education was abolished. She then sat by silently as a woman repeatedly called President Obama a Muslim at a Norton meet-and-greet event. She told a Jefferson County Men's Club group that President Obama cares more about the rights of terrorists than protecting Americans. And she has praised the tea party movement and Glenn Beck's 9-12 groups.

It is unclear how those groups will react to a candidate who lies.

UPDATE: Mark Kirk, R-Trout Stream

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We knew it wouldn’t take too long for that old flipper, Senate candidate Mark Kirk, to go all floppy on us again.

After voting last month to allow prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay to be brought to the U.S. mainland, Kirk then decided the move was just too dangerous. In a letter to the Obama administration, he said that if prisoners ended up in a maximum-security facility in Illinois, “our state and the Chicago metropolitan area will become ground zero for jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization."

Chicago newspapers promptly called him out on his scare-mongering, suggesting that he should “give us a break.”

Now, it appears Kirk might be rethinking his position. Again. The Chicago Tribune reported that Kirk now wants a “dispassionate” discussion of the issue. Because flinging around terms like “ground zero” and “jihadist terrorist plots” is a true sign of thoughtful moderation.

Flip-flop.

Five Things You Should Know About Charlie Crist

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When Senator Mel Martinez, R-FL, retired, national Republicans coronated Governor Charlie Crist as their 2010 candidate. He's popular. He's tanned. He has good hair. He can't lose!

Or can he?

Click here to help the DSCC defeat Charlie Crist and other Republican candidates.

Here are five reasons why you should give money to beat Charlie Crist:

1. America's Worst Governor. As said in Forbes magazine: "Charlie Crist is an extraordinarily gifted politician, known for his unpretentious and warm demeanor. He might also be America's worst governor. Given that there is a great deal of competition for this dubious honor, that's saying rather a lot."

2. Skips Work ... A Lot. Charlie Crist is a slacker. A recent review of his schedule shows that he takes up to 10 weeks off per year. Must be nice!

3. Putting Politics First. Charlie Crist appointed his former chief of staff, George LeMieux, to Sen. Martinez's seat. Given LeMieux's lack of experience, it's obvious Crist's only requirement was that his pick step aside in 2010.

4. Hard Right Turn. A recent Charlie Crist fundraising letter bragged about how he was nicknamed "Chain Gang Charlie." He said he's "about as conservative as you can get." Stand by for multiple appearances at antigovernment "tea parties."

5. He Will Lose. Charlie Crist's campaign is getting nervous. Marco Rubio, his ultraconservative Republican challenger, is steadily raising his profile -- and cash. Crist might not even win his primary, let alone the Senate race.

We can beat Charlie Crist and other likeminded Republicans - but only if we can match them dollar-for-dollar on fundraising. It's only a year until the 2010 elections, and if we let them get ahead of us, we could lose all hope of meaningful progress.

Click here to donate to the DSCC. We must raise $937,564 before November 2, and we need your help. If you give $5 or more, you'll receive a free "If 'No' Wins, America Loses" car magnet.

Charlie Crist offers us a great opportunity to pick up a Republican-held seat. But if we want to keep our Democratic majority, we have to do more than that. Republicans are aggressively targeting a number of our senators, and they're flush with millions of dollars in Ohio. Florida. Connecticut. Not to mention the third-party money machine that soon will kick into high gear for the GOP's benefit.

Crist might be tanned and have good hair. But scratch him and each of the other Republican candidates, and underneath the polished exterior lies the same tired Republican philosophies that America cannot afford.