Sarah Palin endorses Carly Fiorina Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina on Thursday in the GOP contest for the California Senate nomination.
Fiorina – a top surrogate to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign – received the primary endorsement over tea party favorite Chuck DeVore, as well as former Rep. Tom Campbell.
The endorsement also comes as something of a surprise given that Fiorina once said Palin was not qualified to run a “major corporation” during the 2008 presidential campaign. Fiorina later backed off the comment slightly, saying she didn’t think McCain or Barack Obama could run a major corporation either.
Palin dubbed Fiorina a “commonsense conservative” in a post announcing the endorsement on Facebook, a label she frequently gives to candidates with much firmer conservative credentials.
“We can trust Carly to do the right thing for America’s economy and to make the principled decisions she has throughout her professional career,” Palin wrote. “Her fiscal conservatism is rooted in real life experience. She knows that when government grows, the private sector shrinks under the burden of debt and deficits.”
While Palin touted Fiorina’s fiscal conservatism, she did not make any mention of the former CEO’s social stances.
Fiorina recently warned against the “racist” tone that has taken over the debate of Arizona’s new immigration law in an interview with POLITICO, though she has said she understands why the state passed the law.
The former Alaska governor alluded to the other Republicans in the race, but did not mention them by name.
“I’m a huge proponent of contested primaries, so I’m glad to see the contest in California’s GOP, but I support Carly as she fights through a tough primary against a liberal member of the GOP who seems to bear almost no difference to Boxer, one of the most leftwing members of the Senate,” Palin wrote. “Carly needs our support in this crucial election year when we have a real chance of putting an end to the Pelosi/Reid ‘Big Government’ agenda.”
