Forget Donald Trump.
Carly Fiorina knows exactly who her opponent in this presidential primary is, and it's not the billionaire developer or any of the other candidates who appeared at Wednesday's primetime debate.
Her true rival is Hillary Clinton. She attacked the Democratic frontrunner aggressively during the debate, with arguably much more bite than her fellow Republicans. As part of her commanding performance, Fiorina's blunt criticism of Clinton was a savvy way to try to prove that she's ready for the general election.
.@HillaryClinton thinks she is entitled to your vote. I am working hard to earn it. http://t.co/sdMhriOBGy #Carly2016— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) August 13, 2015
"Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record," Fiorina said. "Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her emails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment."
Some might consider that a daring statement to make about a former first lady, senator and secretary of state, but Fiorina wasn't finished.
"Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment ... if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's."
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That line is one that Fiorina has delivered several times at campaign speeches this year. It's also one that might sound familiar to California Democrat Barbara Boxer, who defeated Fiorina in a 2010 California Senate race.
Rose Kapolczynski, Boxer's campaign manager, tells Mashable that Fiorina combed her opponent's congressional record and focused on the fact that she had sponsored only a handful of bills in the previous year. Fiorina contrasted that with her experience as the CEO of HP to make the argument that Boxer had in fact "done nothing" as a senator.
While that's not a novel tactic in any race against a long-serving incumbent, it's one that resonates with voters who are sick of career politicians, says Liz Mair, a communications advisor to Fiorina during that Senate bid.
Mair says Fiorina's criticism is revealing: "Hillary has had a lot of jobs and titles, but what value has she actually added on big ticket items?"
That Fiorina saved her most damning critique of the debate for Clinton is also reminiscent of her 2010 strategy, says Kapolczynski.
"Positioning herself as the eventual nominee is exactly what she did in 2010," she says. "She ignored her Republican opponents, who had been in the race much longer, and focused entirely on attacking Barbara Boxer."
Delivered by any of the male candidates, Fiorina's pointed attacks on Clinton could come across as domineering to general election voters, but Fiorina has focused on portraying herself as an ally of women.
In June, she wrote an essay entitled "Redefining Feminism" on Medium about gender inequity in corporate America and how she experienced sexism throughout her career.
.@HillaryClinton likes to talk about her support of human rights, women's rights and democracy. Her actions conflict with her words.— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) July 28, 2015
She championed the feminist ideals of empowerment and equality, but derided feminism itself as a "left-leaning political ideology where women are pitted against men and used as a political weapon to win elections."
Fiorina has used that framework to paint Clinton and her policy positions as harmful to women: Fiorina does not support federal paid parental leave, a federal minimum wage or federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
It is the height of hypocrisy for @HillaryClinton to run for President as a champ. of women's rights when her record as SOS is this dismal.— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) July 28, 2015
Margie Omero, a Democratic pollster at the Virginia-based consulting firm Purple Strategies, says general election voters may be turned off by Fiorina's opposition to these popular policies and perceive her as someone who is going to "kick the ladder away" for other women.
Kapolczynski says something similar happened in the California race: "She had this appeal to women voters based on her personal story of accomplishment and overcoming obstacles. However, when [they] found out what she did with that success, they turned on her." Exit polling found that women overwhelmingly voted for Boxer.
Fiorina appealed strongly to women during Wednesday's debate by first cooly dismissing Trump's recent comments regarding her physical appearance and then turning a question about which woman should appear on the $10 bill into an opportunity to talk about empowerment.
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"I don't think it helps to change our history," she said of redesigning the bill. "What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation. And this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses."
Moments like these are the ones that make Fiorina a formidable opponent — and that might help primary voters imagine her challenging Clinton, should she win the Democratic nomination.
If Fiorina continues adapting her 2010 strategy to this presidential race, insisting that her real opponent is Clinton above anyone else, she may well emerge as the GOP's inevitable nominee.