Fiorina is Flying High

Ruben Navarrett Jr. on Sep 23, 2015

This finding will frustrate those Fiorina critics who, in their primary line of attack, insist that her rocky tenures as CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a top executive at Lucent Technologies should disqualify her from the presidency. While at H-P, Fiorina was harshly criticized when the company's stock price dropped, thousands of workers were laid off, and jobs were outsourced to foreign countries.

Trump insisted this week that Fiorina's surge in the polls will taper off when voters get a closer look at her business record, which he says represents a "tremendous failure" that can't be overcome.

"When people see her record, I don't see how she could possibly win," Trump said on NBC's "Today Show."

It didn't help Fiorina's public image that, while all this turmoil was going on at H-P, she was living large -- flying around on private jets, tripling her salary, and spending lavishly on luxury items.

Those optics might bother some people, but I can't imagine they would mean much to supporters of Hillary Clinton. Along with her husband, she earned more than $160 million since leaving the White House in 2001. And as she was giving speeches for $250,000 a pop, Hillary Clinton also flew around the country in private jets with special accommodations for her wardrobe, hair stylists, and makeup team.

If Fiorina wins the GOP nomination and goes on to face Clinton, they could hold their first debate at Neiman Marcus.

In either party, the decision of whom to elect probably won't boil down to lifestyles of the rich and famous. What really matters is how voters feel about candidates on a gut level.

And if Fiorina continues to connect with voters as she has these past few weeks, this outsider could be on her way to the White House.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.