(Newser) – She lost a bid for the Senate five years ago, but now Carly Fiorina is hoping that her first political job will be even loftier: The former chief of Hewlett-Packard will launch her presidential campaign on May 4, reports the Wall Street Journal. Relative to those who have already done so, it will be a low-key affair. Fiorina will make the announcement online and have a conference call with reporters, but she will hold no public events, says the Journal. Nor will she immediately beat the usual path to early-voting states—she’s speaking at a tech conference in New York the following day, which coincides with the launch of her new book.
The first female to join the group of male GOP contenders says that one advantage she would have is the ability to take the “gender card” out of Hillary Clinton’s arsenal, reports the Daily Beast. Clinton would have to run on her record, not “identity politics.” The story, however, points out that Fiorina is happy to play the gender card herself. “Get women involved in any problem, the problem gets better,” she said last week. “The data is clear.” A CNN poll out earlier this week makes clear her challenge: Only 2% of respondents in a survey of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents picked her as their first choice among potential GOP nominees.
