Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and a potential GOP presidential candidate, said on Friday that she is not as wealthy as Hillary Clinton and that unlike the likely Democratic nominee, she drives a car, does her own laundry, goes grocery shopping and tips at Chipotle.
Fiorina, who is in New Hampshire as part of the GOP Leadership Summit, shared details of her anti-Clintonian lifestyle in an interview on The Howie Carr Show.
Asked whether she thinks Clinton’s campaign strategy of trying to repackage herself as an “everyday American” will prove convincing to voters, Fiorina said ,”Honestly, I really don’t.”
Carr brought up an admission Clinton made last year that she has not driven a car herself since 1996, when she was First Lady.
“Kind of amazing, right?” Fiorina said.
Asked if she drives, the businesswoman said, “Of course, oh my gosh, of course.”
“And I do my own laundry, and I go to the grocery store. I live a normal life.”
Clinton has faced heavy criticism that she is out of touch with average Americans. Though she and husband Bill are worth tens of millions of dollars, she claimed last year that they were nearly “dead broke” after leaving the White House in 2001.
Realizing this political vulnerability, Clinton has gone to great lengths to repair her image. After announcing her presidential candidacy on Sunday, Clinton and her team set off for Iowa in Dodge conversion van.
The highlight of the trip was the campaign team’s stop at a Chipotle in Ohio. Rather than connecting with average Americans, Clinton and her aide wore sunglasses into the restaurant and appeared to not have engaged with anyone. Clinton caused a minor stir when it was revealed that she did not leave money in a tip jar.
Though many Chipotle patrons do not leave tips, Fiorina says she does.
“I really do, those people work hard,” she told Carr. “I’m a good tipper.”
LISTEN:
Asked why she does her own laundry, Fiorina told The Howie Carr Show, “Because I have to do my laundry, that’s why. Nobody else is going to do my laundry.”
Fiorina also claimed that she and her husband Frank, a retired AT&T executive, are not nearly as rich as the Clintons.
“I will tell you that Bill and Hillary Clinton are worth far more money than Frank and Carly Fiorina,” she said.
Fiorina has never held public office, but says that her business experience will be her greatest asset in the Oval Office, should she try for it.
She also says that being a woman will be an asset against Clinton, who routinely refers to the “war on women” and gender disparities in her stump speeches.
“Maybe they realize that if Hillary Clinton faces me on a debate stage in the general election that there are a whole host of things she can’t talk about,” Fiorina said Friday.
“She can’t talk about being the first woman president, she can’t talk about the “war on women,” she can’t play the gender card, and she will be forced instead to talk about her track record, her accomplishments — or lack thereof — her candor and trustworthiness, her policies, her plans.”
