Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, a co-moderator for the network’s Republican presidential primary debate, thinks Carly Fiorina was a standout among her competitors.
After Fiorina, along with six other GOP presidential candidates, participated in Fox’s pre-debate forum (which was designated for the 10 candidates with the highest national poll numbers), Wallace showered praise on Fiorina’s performance.
“I have to say I was most impressed with Carly Fiorina,” Wallace said Thursday on Fox. “I think she just stood above the other six people on the stage. She was sharp on national security. She was, not surprisingly for a former CEO, sharp on domestic policy and budget money issues.”
Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, spoke fluidly on the topics, including how she would confront Iran over its nuclear development program and reduce the size of the U.S. federal government.
Her low national poll numbers, however, excluded her from Fox’s primetime debate.
“I just think that there’s kind of a sharpness and an intelligence about her and a precision of her message that really cuts through,” Wallace said of Fiorina. “I frankly was a little surprised she didn’t make the top 10 and I think that she did nothing today that will only help her propel to getting into the top tier of candidates.”
Other journalists also felt that Fiorina’s performance was remarkable.
“Right now, Fiorina is by the class of this thing,” wrote Washington Post politics writer Chris Cillizza on Twitter.
Sean Davis, co-founder of the conservative Federalist web magazine, tweeted, “I’m not anything close to a fan of Carly Fiorina, but it’s absurd that she’s not in the main debate.”
“Carly Fiorina has a solid and clear elevator pitch,” tweeted Jonathan Capehart, a liberal commentator for MSNBC.
