BURLINGAME, Calif. (AP) – When Carly Fiorina spoke at the California Republican Party convention at a hotel outside San Francisco airport, it was a brief homecoming of sorts for the newly minted vice presidential candidate.
Fiorina grew up in the Bay Area and became chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard there before plunging into politics with an unsuccessful run against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010. But this is no usual Republican presidential primary, and Fiorina’s appearance won’t quite be the return of a favorite daughter.
She’s running on a ticket with Sen. Ted Cruz, who’s mathematically eliminated from becoming the GOP presidential nominee unless the Republican National Convention is contested. Fiorina left California for Virginia shortly after losing her Senate race and didn’t pay several California operatives for years, until she was running for president herself this winter.
Even Fiorina’s return was basically a toe-touch. She flew in after a day of stumping in must-win Indiana, gave a brief speech punctuated with digs at Trump then rushed out to fly back to Indiana. But she brought the crowd to its feet Saturday night after a series of zingers aimed at the front-runner, mocking his insistence the previous day that he essentially had the nomination sewn up.
“The 30-yard-line ain’t a touchdown. The 20-yard-line ain’t a touchdown. The 5-yard-line ain’t a touchdown. It ain’t a touchdown until it’s a touchdown,” Fiorina said, adding: “I’m sorry, you cannot just throw an ‘R’ on your jersey and say you believe what our party stands for.”