The Barbara Boxer Ad That Defeated Carly Fiorina In 2010: This Bomb Will Blow Again

VIDEO: “Outsourcing” – Boxer’s 2010 Anti-Fiorina Ad

This Brutal 30 Second Ad Can Completely Cripple Carly Fiorina’s Rise

This is the one ad whose message, some believe, could sink Carly Fiorina’s political “yacht” with her presidential aspirations on board.

If history is any indicator, Fiorina’s corporate struggles years ago while CEO of HP could mean troubled waters ahead for her rising campaign for president. All you have to do to understand that, say political analysts, is look at her campaign for U.S. Senate against California’s Barbara Boxer in 2010.

As for more current politics, before the August 6th Republican debate aired on Fox News Channel, Carly Fiorina was one of the least known candidates in the race. When the debate dust settled, she found herself a top-tier contender.

But along with her meteoric rise in popularity has come a challenge — a meteoric rise in scrutiny. The search has intensified for an errant word, a mistake, a moment of weakness or an exploitable controversy that could be used to dash Fiorina’s presidential hopes.

For Fiorina, that past controversy may have been one that recent debate moderator Jake Tapper referred to. CNN’s Tapper noted that Donald Trump had said Fiorina “ran HP into the ground” during her time as head of the technology giant.

Fiorina was vigorous in her defense: “I led Hewlett-Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years.” Carly added, “We had to make tough choices, and in doing so, we saved 80,000 jobs, went on to grow to 160,000 jobs.”

Even Trump let the issue drop during the primetime CNN debate. Yet it was a telling moment that pointed Carly’s GOP competitors and her Democrat detractors directly at what could prove to be Fiorina’s biggest weak spot.

Carly Fiorina has already been attacked on this front related to her tenure at HP — and it worked. In 2010 Fiorina tried to unseat Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. Boxer’s hard-hitting campaign ad attacking Fiorina’s weak spot was called “Outsourcing.”

The ad highlighted Fiorina’s seeming failure at the helm of HP and painted her as a greedy capitalist out for herself. Although only part of her story is told, and the reasoning behind her decisions was omitted, the ad hit right at the heart of an America that is now becoming obsessed with issues of “income inequality” and “economic justice.”

The ad scorched Carly Fiorina for laying off 30,000 workers at HP while tripling her own salary and buying a “million-dollar yacht” and “five corporate jets.” It ran in September 0f 2010 and Fiorina’s political fortunes rapidly faded and never recovered.