Former HP CEO Fiorina Targets Boxer's Senate Seat

Fiorina, who recently completed breast cancer treatment, gently teased herself about her close-cropped hair, apparently the result of chemotherapy. She said the cancer was behind her and "I feel absolutely great."

Boxer, 68, has long been a target of conservatives — they pounced earlier this year when she chastised a brigadier general who called her "ma'am" during a congressional hearing — but has yet to face a serious re-election challenge.

Until now, Boxer's only announced opposition was DeVore. A military officer and businessman from Irvine, he has been aggressively campaigning on a shoestring budget for months, styling himself as the only true conservative in the race.

He is appealing to the party's base as the true candidate of limited government, lower taxes and conservative fiscal stewardship.

DeVore, 47, said Fiorina is "attempting to sound like a conservative, and yet when you actually probe the depths of her conservatism ... it's really not conservatism at all."

Fiorina is the fifth Silicon Valley executive to compete in a statewide race in California next year. All three GOP gubernatorial candidates — Whitman, state insurance commissioner and high tech entrepreneur Steve Poizner, and former congressman Tom Campbell — have ties to the Valley.