Carly Fiorina learned the hard way Friday that mixing politics and sports can be a dangerous endeavor.
Twitter users said Fiorina was pandering to Iowa voters after the GOP presidential hopeful announced in a tweet that she was rooting for the Iowa Hawkeyes to win the Rose Bowl, even though they were playing against her own alma mater, Stanford.
Love my alma mater, but rooting for a Hawkeyes win today. #RoseBowl— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) January 1, 2016
But the tweets took a turn after the Hawkeyes lost to Stanford by a crushing score of 45 to 16, spurring the #CarlyCurse hashtag.
Some Twitter users were outraged.
Shameless pandering. Questionable judgement and loyalty traits, lost my vote. #CarlyCurse #RoseBowl @CarlyFiorina https://t.co/iKcXx30kN1— Paul A. Miller (@PMiller06) January 2, 2016
Others predicted the #CarlyCurse will be a lesson in "what not to do" in future presidential campaigns.
This'll be in some campaign book on what not to do. Pathetic #pandering. #CarlyCursehttps://t.co/ZGlU1xMFf6— Jacob Mejia (@MrJacobMejia) January 2, 2016
And some tweets were just plain snarky.
Everyone in upstate SC is praying @CarlyFiorina doesn't tweet her love for Clemson. No more early primary state love. #CarlyCurse— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) January 2, 2016
It would be awesome if Carly Fiorina could quickly adopt the Buffalo Bills as her favorite team. #CarlyCurse #NFL #letsgojets— Jeff Guillot (@JeffGuillot) January 2, 2016
National Security Advisor Susan Rice, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, didn't miss the chance to stick up for Stanford.
UN Ambassador straight up trollin' @CarlyFiorina, and deservedly so. #CarlyCurse https://t.co/CoDDX8H8Dv— Paco Torres (@PacoTorresCA) January 2, 2016
Congrats to MY alma mater. #GoStanford #RoseBowl— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) January 2, 2016
Fiorina trails badly in the race for the GOP nomination. She's tied for seventh in Iowa in the RealClearPolitics polling average in the state, with just 2.3 percent.
She doesn't fare much better in national polls, taking the eighth-place spot with just 2.2 percent.