The document provides biographical information about Barbara Boxer, the Democratic incumbent Senator from California, and Carly Fiorina, the Republican candidate challenging Boxer. It discusses their backgrounds, platforms, and key issues in the 2010 California Senate election, including the economy, environment, health care, and immigration. It also summarizes some of the prevailing stories in the media about the race, including debates around the candidates' experience and character.

1. Barbara Boxer, Democratic incumbent

2. Barbara Boxer, Democratic incumbent Boxer was born in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish family In 1962, she married and graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelor’s degree in Economics Worked as a stock broker, while her husband was in law school First ran for political office in 1972, but lost a close election

3. Barbara Boxer, Democratic incumbent In the 1970s, Boxer worked for the Pacific Sun as a journalist In 1976, she became the first woman president of the Marin Country Board of Supervisors She was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982 “ Barbara Boxer gives a damn.” Represented CA District 6 for five terms

4. Barbara Boxer, Platforms In 1992, Boxer won the seat in the US Senate Healthcare: increasing medical research Education: federal funding for after-school programs Environment: against oil drilling

5. Carly Fiorina, Republican candidate

6. Carly Fiorina, Republican candidate Born in 1954 Went to Stanford, where she met her husband and married in 1977 In 1984, she divorced him over matters of money and spending time away In 1985, she married Frank Fiorina Fiorina worked at AT&T in management In 1998, Fortune named her “most powerful woman in business” In 1999, Hewlett-Packard named her chief executive officer

7. Carly Fiorina, Republican candidate In 2008, Fiorina joined the McCain presidential campaign In 2009, she was diagnosed with breast cancer She has undergone chemotherapy and has been given an excellent prognosis for a full recovery “ After chemotherapy, Barbara Boxer just isn’t that scary anymore”

8. Carly Fiorina, Platforms Quickly becoming more well-known for her ads than for her platform Supporter of Proposition 8 Climate change: examine the science on an on-going basis Against efforts to control greenhouse gases – too destructive

9. California – basic information Population: 36,961,664 for the year 2009 Most geographically diverse state in the nation California’s leading industries: Leading dairy state Retired Lawyers/Law Firms Securities & Investment TV/Movies/Music Real Estate

10. California Electoral College Votes With the exception of 1920, California has gained electoral votes from every census since its founding, and will likely gain one more in time for the 2012 election. In 1972, California reached 45 electoral votes, passing New York for most in the country. With 55 currently, the state has more than 10% of all available electoral votes.

11. California Voting History While the growth in the Latino population has helped make California a reliably Democratic state today, this was not always the case. Up until 1992 California was traditionally a Red or a Republican state. However when Bush Sr. left office and Clinton became president California turned Blue and has been a Democratic state since that time.

12. Makeup of Registered Voters in California Of the 17,304,091 California voters registered for the November 4, 2008 general election 44.4% were Democrats 31.3% were Republicans 4.4% were affiliated with other political parties 19.9% were ("Decline to State") voters

13. Key Issues For Citizens FIORINA Economy Wants to reduce the deficit Is in favor of making the "Bush tax cuts” permanent “ Small businesses and entrepreneurs are the economic engines that will lead us through these difficult times.” Environment “ Bringing relief to California farmers in the Central Valley is one of my highest priorities.” “ Our focus must be to find efficiencies in the energy production sector and invest in innovation.” Health Care Believes strongly that every American should have access to quality, affordable health care. Believes it’s essential that decisions about care stay in the hands of patients, their families and their doctors. Immigration “ Illegal immigration undermines our security.” California Republicans have rejected the idea of a tough immigration law like Arizona's and are reaching out to Latino voters. (hispanictips.com)

14. Key Issues For Citizens BOXER Economy Wants to create thousands of clean energy jobs and make California the hub of the clean energy economy Will end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas Reduce the deficit. Environment Boxer is a strong environmental proponent and helped secure the Water Resources Development Act and she sponsored the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, which designated over 273,000 acres in California as wilderness. Health Care Supports affordable health care for children and she cosponsored the law that created the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Immigration Boxer is a “vocal advocate for policies to help give Latinos a fair opportunity to achieve the American Dream”.

15. Newsworthy Topics: The Big Issue- Economy Attacks on Candidate Characters Focus on a Female vs. Female Race War Against Incumbents Possibility of a Red California Media Coverage of the Race

16. Prevailing Stories: Economy Boxer condemns Fiorina’s 30,000 layoffs as CEO of Hewlett-Packard Fiorina outsourced jobs to China while Californians were out of work Boxer believes Fiorina does not consider Main Street’s best interests Fiorina’s “big business” savvy loses credibility since she was fired with sources telling media her “massive” outsourcing caused her downfall HP is giving more donations to Boxer than to its former CEO Boxer attacks Fiorina for focusing on big businesses and companies while ignoring typical American workers  Misguided Priorities Boxer’s media strategy of associating Fiorina with “Silicon Valley” and venture capitalism strikes a nerve with Fiorina Fiorina criticizes Boxer’s endorsement of higher taxes for business during horrible economic state California unemployment rates have increased during Boxer’s Senate years Fiorina believes removing tax cuts from citizens would be irresponsible and that even the wealthy should receive tax cuts in this recession Fiorina wants to install hefty tax cuts for small businesses to allow them to flourish She feels that Boxer’s support for government spending, more regulation in business, and more taxes has hurt California Too Many Taxes vs. Outsourcing of Jobs

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18. Fiorina focuses on Boxer’s so-called arrogance in her first television advertisement which has gone viral Ad begins with Boxer retorting to Army Corps of Engineers Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, "You know, do me a favor, could you say Senator instead of ma'am? Fiorina wants to end the arrogance in Washington, which she believes Boxer has accumulated in her 28 years affiliated with politics Boxer is running for a fourth term, despite a mediocre approval rating 43% of registered CA voters disapprove of her job as Senator since 1992 (San Francisco Chronicle June/July 2010 Field Poll) San Francisco Chronical Editorial page states that she has failed to “distinguish herself” in her 18 years as Senator Fiorina was caught critiquing Meg Whitman’s appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox news show, adding fuel to the stories that these individuals do not get along Former CEO of HP and of EBay have reportedly had animosity while working in Silicon Valley at same time period In September 2008- Fiorina made foolish comment that VP candidate Sarah Palin would not be able to run HP Fiorina angered Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) by alluding to a bad working partnership between Feinstein and Boxer who have worked together for 18 years On a MSNBC interview, she was once again caught in open mike, this time calling Boxer’s hair “so yesterday” among other various criticisms Prevailing Stories: Candidate Character Boxer’s arrogance vs. Fiorina’s “loose lips”

19. First time in California history that two women have competed against each other for a California Senate seat Fiorina would be the first female Republican Senator Both are trying to use their femininity to appeal specifically to female voters both in domestic spheres and the working force In the media- Fiorina, Whitman, and Boxer have been type-casted as strong women and portrayed as having girl vs. girl rivalries After June 9 th - News correspondents all over the nation framed the primary wins with such titles as “Ladies Night” and “Women Deliver,” which John Stewart parodied in a montage of news broadcasts Fiorina uses her past struggle with breast cancer to gain sympathy from females who may not typically feel a connection with the CEO powerhouse Boxer has used her female status as an advantageous selling point in previous elections Fiorina has proved to have staying power after sinking millions of her own money into the campaign, embodying the image of a self-made woman She defeated Tom Campbell and Chuck DeVore in a three way primary Prevailing Stories: Power to the Women Unique Female vs. Female Race

20. http://archive.ccm.edu/rosie/index.htm http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/fox-news-poll-ca-sen-and-ca-gov-races-virtual-toss-ups.php

21. Boxer is framed in accordance with anti-incumbent sentiments yet as John Stewart points out, 82 of 84 incumbents won their respected primaries Democrats are growing increasingly pessimistic about CA which may provide an opportunity for Fiorina to win the typically blue state 78% of polled self-identified Democrats and Republicans said the state is on the “wrong track” (Reuters/lpos poll June 25 th ) Frustrated citizens may be willing to re-evaluate voting in accordance to party affiliations Boxer has not proven herself as a superwoman in times of distress Fiorina’s is using Boxer’s shortcomings to her advantage by depicting herself as prepared for change Fiorina to Tea Partiers: We must join as one party- the “Had Enough” party National Republicans are spending more money on advertising in Washington, Wisconsin, and California (formerly all-blue states) because this year there is momentum on the Republican side However, Boxer has easily raised 15 million and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee’s 1.75 million won’t do much California’s despairing economy has caused many irritated citizens to look for someone to blame  Many look to Boxer as their scapegoat Boxer does not have many outstanding accomplishments to list and is losing support even among Democrats Prevailing Stories: War Against Incumbents Incumbents framed as especially disadvantaged in 2010

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23. Fiorina supports offshore drilling and Proposition 23 which would suspend a law cutting greenhouse emissions She supports the death penalty when deserved Wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade which many say may cost her the nomination in the typically liberal state Other Republican politicians, such as former governor Schwarzenegger, support Roe vs. Wade She strongly defends the Arizona immigration law, even critiquing the Federal Government for weak security on the Mexico-US border Large Latino populations have an influence in elections and are reluctant to endorse a GOP candidate like Fiorina, especially one against health care and immigration 38 point lead for Boxer in Latino community (Times/USC) Prevailing Stories: Will California “Turn Red”? Is Fiorina too Republican or just Republican enough? Is Fiorina too conservative for even the most dissatisfied Democrats?