Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who engineered its $25 billion acquisition of Compaq, is considering another top job: President of the United States.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Fiorina, who left HP in early 2005 after six years, is wooing donors, recruiting staff, sending thank-you notes to Iowa activists, and plans to visit New Hampshire next month. That smells like campaign prep to almost anyone who can fog a mirror.
This news came the same day current HP CEO Meg Whitman talked more about splitting up HP into two independent companies — an enterprise IT unit and a PC-and-printer company — undoing much of what Fiorina and her successor Mark Hurd engineered.
Some wonder if Fiorina has a warped view of her own record. In retrospect, most see the Compaq acquisition as a distraction at best, and viewed Fiorina’s very presence as a repudiation of the much ballyhooed HP Way culture of in-house innovation.
The Post outlined some of her challenges, including the fact that she has never held public office:
Lingering disarray from her last campaign could also haunt her next one, undercutting her image as an effective manager. Fiorina still owes nearly $500,000 to consultants and staffers from her failed 2010 Senate bid in California — debts that have left some former associates bitter.
Still she exited HP with a ton of money and remains a high-profile female Republican who, for better or worse, has CEO experience running a gigantic company.

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