GOP reserves $1.75M for ads in Calif. Senate race

WASHINGTON -- Republicans have reserved $1.75 million for television ads to help Carly Fiorina in the final week of the California Senate race.

The buy signals GOP optimism about unseating three-term Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in November.

Amber Marchand, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, confirmed the decision to invest in the bid of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Fiorina. Previously, the committee had declined to say where it would be putting its money going into the Nov. 2 election.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR2010072604744.html

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina used her personal fortune, corporate experience and outsider status to propel herself to the Republican Party's nomination in California.

So far in a young general election, she is holding onto her wallet.

Fiorina lent her campaign $5.5 million before the June 8 primary, but has contributed nothing from her own bank account since and risks losing momentum that has turned the race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer into a toss-up.

The other wealthy candidate running for statewide office, former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, has taken a different tack. The billionaire wrote her campaign a $20 million check after the primary, adding to the $71 million she already had poured in.

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_15605980