What Carly is doing tonight

Carly Fiorina
4 min readFeb 7, 2016

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Date: February 6, 2016
Subject: ABC: Anyone But Carly
From: Frank F. Sadler, Campaign Manager
To: Friends of Carly

Despite what the media is telling you, it is clear that Carly deserved to be on the debate stage, both according to their arbitrary metrics — and the ones that actually matter:

* In an actual contest of voters, Carly came out ahead of Governors Christie and Kasich

* She has the same number of delegates as Governor Bush. Governor Christie has 0

* Carly is 6th in hard dollars raised and has more cash-on-hand than Governors Kasich and Christie combined

* There is a ground game with paid staff in 12 states. In New Hampshire alone, CARLY for America has 12 full-time staff, 500 volunteer community captains and 77 canvassers.

* Carly has endorsements from leaders in 27 states. In New Hampshire alone, we have endorsements from 83 elected officials, political leaders, party activists, and business and community leaders.

* Recent polls — which are the standard by which ABC is making their decision about which candidates to include — show Carly ahead of multiple candidates on the stage. A WBUR poll released yesterday has Carly surging to 8%

We know how much this injustice outraged the voters of Iowa — whose votes were ignored — and the voters of New Hampshire, who don’t want the media and the political establishment unfairly winnowing the field before they get to vote. So we spoke with executives at ABC and political leaders at the RNC and made our case. But they decided to keep us off the stage to improve the chances of their favored candidates, despite what voters clearly wanted.

And it wasn’t just us. More than 35,000 voters signed a petition to get Carly on the stage. Conservative blog PJ Media polled their readers: 76% said Carly should be on stage. Fox host Greta Van Susteren polled her viewers and 80% agreed that she should be on stage.

Other candidates — including Ben Carson and Ted Cruz — called on ABC to change their flawed criteria and put Carly on the stage. So did Republican leaders, including Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

Many business and political leaders joined in the chorus and offered their support to Carly:

Current or Former Elected/Appointed Officials and Candidates

* Governor Mitt Romney

* Governor Rick Perry

* Governor Asa Hutchinson

* Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)

* Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)

* Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE)

* Representative Michael Capuano (D-MA)

* Representative Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)

* Dr. Ben Carson

* Speaker Newt Gingrich

* Former Representative Nan Hayworth (R-NY)

* Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives, Linda Upmeyer

* Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds

* Former FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright

Political and Business Leaders

* New Hampshire GOP Chairman Jennifer Horn

* New Hampshire GOP Vice Chair Matt Mayberry

* Former New Hampshire GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen

* Arizona GOP Chairman Robert Graham

* Alabama GOP Chairman Terry Lathan

* Former Nevada GOP Chairman Amy Tarkanian

* RNC Debate Committee Chairman Steve Duprey

* American Commitment President Phil Kerpen

* President of Americans United for Life Charmaine Yoest

* President of Susan B. Anthony List Marjorie Dannenfelser

* National Chairman of College Republicans Alex Smith

* Independent Women’s Voice Chairman Heather R. Higgins

* American Future Fund founder Nick Ryan

* Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch

* The American Conservative Union (ACU)

* The National Federal of Republican Women (NFRW)

* Citizens United

* Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Journalists

* Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol

* Real Clear Politics Co-Founder and Editor Tom Bevan

* National Review Contributing Editor Jim Geraghty

* Fortune Editor Alan Murray

* NH Today Host Jack Heath

* Fox News Analyst Monica Crowley

* Fox News Contributor Tammy Bruce

* The Hill conservative opinion writer Eddie Zipperer

* Washington Examiner Chief Political Correspondent Bryon York

* Fox Business contributor Charles V Payne

* Daily Caller Contributing Editor Derek Hunter

They all know what we know: the criteria are arbitrary, ineffective, and decidedly weighted to tip the scales in favor of the establishment candidates they media has already approved.

We’re looking forward to Tuesday night when New Hampshire voters will have their say. We know that no one debate, poll, or event decides anything about this election. That is up to the voters of New Hampshire. They have demonstrated their support for Carly over and over again, showing up to events, asking questions, and protesting this outrageous decision. Despite the efforts of the media and professional political class to stand in her way, Carly will not stop fighting to take our country back.

Instead of the debate, Carly and Frank will be having a date night of dinner and a movie in Room 306.

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Carly Fiorina

Businesswoman, wife, mother, & grandmother. Leadership takes character. Character is when you realize how you do things is as important as what you do.