This is the ad that could sink Carly Fiorina’s campaign

By Chris Cillizza September 17 at 1:52 PM, WashPost

Carly Fiorina is the new "it" candidate in the Republican presidential field, following a second straight sterling debate performance at the Ronald Reagan presidential library Wednesday night.

But there was a moment in the debate that previewed a major potential weakness for Fiorina. It came when moderator Jake Tapper noted that Donald Trump had said Fiorina "ran HP into the ground" during her time as CEO. Fiorina responded, "I led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years," adding: "We had to make tough choices, and in doing so, we saved 80,000 jobs, went on to grow to 160,000 jobs."

Trump -- and Tapper -- largely let the issue drop. But Fiorina's past political history suggests that her struggles at HP could be a campaign killer.

In 2010, Fiorina was running surprisingly close to California Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), who was struggling in a strong election cycle for Republicans nationally. Then, Boxer ran this ad focused on Fiorina's time at the helm of HP.

(More here.)