"She knows the treachery of internal politics from an entrenched circle," he said.
In the three years since she left HP, Fiorina has written her memoir, worked on her charitable foundation and spent time with family (she and husband Frank Fiorina have two adult daughters from his previous marriage).
She has been "redefining and relaunching herself" for years, said George Anders, author of "Perfect Enough: Carly Fiorina and the Reinvention of Hewlett-Packard," a book about the HP proxy fight. "Starting over with new allies is part of the adventure."
Whether or not McCain becomes president, Fiorina may emerge a winner.
As she said in July: "One of the great things about my life right now is I have lots of options and lots of opportunities. And I have learned that if you're open to options and opportunities, the future tends to take care of itself. So I'm not really worried about what's next."
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michelle.quinn@latimes.com
Times staff writer Jim Puzzanghera contributed to this report.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Carly Fiorina
Age: 53
Residence: Los Altos Hills, Calif., and Washington, D.C.
Current position: Victory '08 chairwoman, Republican National Committee. Economic advisor to presidential candidate John McCain.
Previous jobs: Chief executive, president and chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard Co.; president of Lucent Technologies Inc.'s global service provider business
Education: B.A., Stanford University; MBA, the University of Maryland; M.S., MIT Sloan School of Management
Author: "Tough Choices: A Memoir," published 2006
Source: Times research
