California is across the country from Maryland, but I remain interested in the US Senate seat which Barbara Boxer has to defend in 2010. Today’s Senate roster makes every seat important. With attitudes towards the current Congress approaching the all-time lows of late of 2008, no seat is safe. Barbara Boxer’s ratings are very low, and polling has shown her seat to be vulnerable. The Republicans know of this, and primary season starts, two names are coming through the noise: Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and for CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina. I am endorsing DeVore for the candidacy, and obviously the seat.

What dog do I have in this fight?

The composition of the Senate makes every seat important. Not only that, but the partisan nature of the Senate makes it important to have one who holds firm to the principles that the party holds. Being that I’m a Conservative and I accept the way the two-party system works, we need someone who idealizes the GOP platform and energize the base. Yes, even in California.

Just who is Carly Fiorina, anyway?

I’m not sure what five former California GOP chairmen were smoking when they endorsed her, with such endorsements as:

As CEO of a Fortune 20 company, Carly would bring incredible leadership and business know-how to the Senate and would be a powerful advocate for California’s interests.

Do they mean mean as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, where she steered the company into a consumer PC manufacturer instead of an industry leader in printer R&D? Do they mean as CEO of a company under whose watch worked with a Dutch subsidiary to circumvent the US trade ban against Iran? Do they mean the CEO whose firing raised stock prices to 10% at one point in the day of her termination? Do they mean the CEO whose firing was greeted with a loudspeaker broadcast of Ding Dong the Witch is Dead?

A lot of people are enamored by Fiorina. I get it. She’s not ugly, looks young-ish, exudes an air of power, was a CEO of a Fortune 20 company, but all that is a veneer. We know of someone like this elected to high office just last year, and he’s turned out to be a great disappointment. The GOP chairmen endorsing her are using the flashy side of her record to mask a terrible lack of substance, especially for the Senate.

Unlike our current president, who for many reasons was not thoroughly vetted, Fiorina will have her feet held to the fire in this race. The truth about her record will be revealed, and be hanged around her neck for all to see.

What about Governor Carly?

At this point I’ll say that, given a relatively free electoral system, a constituency deserves who it votes into office.

Why Chuck DeVore?

As a California assemblyman he has experience in the numbingly communitarian process of legislation. Carly’s highstrung, CEO attitude will be crushed, crushed by the Senate culture. (For the same reason I would never have considered Palin for such a position.) Out-of-staters like myself have looked at his record and are excited. He scores high with organizations important to the GOP platform and very low scores against Leftist organizations. This is a good thing. The man has a fire in the belly and knows how to campaign in a cash-strapped environment with some pretty innovative methods. We know where his politics lie, and yes, we even know when he’s willing to play dirty, even if by just a little. This too, is a good thing. (Long-time readers of this site know that I have no qualms with ethically questionable political tactics. It’s par for the course.)

A DeVore candidacy can clearly depict the election as a battle between Conservatism and Liberalism. The state of political affairs will do well to polarize the electorate (which I also believe is a good thing) against Boxer. Today, CEOs and big business are being demonized by a socialist demagogue of a president. Boxer can use Carly’s CEO fides against her in this regard, too.

Obviously my endorsement doesn’t matter. This is my opinion, one I freely give. DeVore carries his principles to the battlefield like a sword and shield. There’s a chance he may go down in flames, but so does Carly. At least, should it happen, we know that DeVore would have gone down swinging, and swinging hard.