Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina debate: watch out for 'head blimp'
Anytime you can write 鈥渢onight鈥檚 political debate鈥� in the same sentence with 鈥渉air,鈥� 鈥渄emon sheep,鈥� and 鈥済iant head blimp,鈥� you should. So we will.
Yes, we鈥檙e all looking forward to Wednesday night鈥檚 big word fling between Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) of California and her feisty Republican challenger, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. They鈥檙e scheduled to debate at 7 p.m., Pacific time at St. Mary鈥檚 College, near San Francisco.
The 鈥渉air鈥� part comes from the fact that in June, Ms. Fiorina was caught on an open mike saying that Senator Boxer鈥檚 hairstyle is 鈥渟o yesterday.鈥� Boxer has tried to jujitsu that line, turning it back against her opponent.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about hair. It鈥檚 about real issues that matter,鈥� said Boxer Tuesday in an appearance at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
(We鈥檒l just note here that the US Senate has 100 members, and probably 90 of them have out-of-date hirsute stylings. The other 10 are bald.)
Meanwhile, Fiorina has run a very imaginative campaign so far. That鈥檚 where 鈥渄emon sheep鈥� and 鈥渉ead blimp鈥� come in.
In February, Fiorina鈥檚 campaign released an ad in which her primary opponent, ex-Rep. Tom Campbell, was depicted as a demon sheep. At least, we think that鈥檚 what it showed 鈥� it鈥檚 kind of hard to follow. But it鈥檚 compelling in a way that most such ads aren鈥檛.
Yes, we thought it wasn鈥檛 going to work, at first. But we had second thoughts later.
And Fiorina dispatched Mr. Campbell fairly handily.
The blimp thing came from another ad produced by the same shop, released in March. This time, Boxer herself was the target. It showed Boxer鈥檚 head inflating into a kind of giant zeppelin-like object that burst through the Capitol dome and floated west toward California, scaring children and chattering about wasting tax money along the way.
However, we鈥檒l note that the hairstyle on the blimp looks pretty good. It鈥檚 sort of a soft blow-dry look, with subtle coloring. A little long around the ears, maybe.
Since then, Fiorina has tried hard to portray Boxer as a traditional tax-and-spend liberal who is pushing policies that will do little to help the state, while bankrupting the nation. She鈥檚 said that if elected, she herself would push tax credits that help California businesses while cutting the deficit overall.
Boxer, for her part, says Fiorina is a failed CEO who wants to take the United States back to the days when economic policies favored the rich. Democrats need a Senate majority, says Boxer, to keep pushing recovery policies and green-energy industries that will benefit the Golden State.
Right now, puts Boxer in the lead, slightly, at 46.9 percent to 43.5 percent.
