Fiorina exploring 2016 presidential run

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is actively exploring a run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

The Washington Post reported late Tuesday that Fiorina “has been talking privately with potential donors, recruiting campaign staffers, courting grass-roots activists in early caucus and primary states and planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire starting next week.”

{mosads}A Republican strategist confirmed to The Hill she’s “making a lot of aggressive moves right now and she’s quite serious.”

Still, some Republican strategists question if she’d be a viable candidate in what’s expected to be a crowded field, saying she overestimates her political skills.

“She couldn’t win in her home state,” one strategist said of her failed bid in 2010 to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Debt issues still linger over her campaign from that run.

But as a Republican from California and potentially the only female candidate in the GOP field, Fiorina could stand out and get a chance to make her case. Republicans are high on candidates with successful business backgrounds, and she steered Hewlett-Packard through the dotcom bust as a high-profile Silicon Valley executive.

Fiorina has visited New Hampshire and Iowa several times this year and has more visits planned. She already has a super-PAC, serves as a vice chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and was co-chairwoman of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference.

One strategist told The Hill that she’s unlikely to “catch fire” during the primaries, but that she could land a position as a Cabinet secretary in a potential Republican administration.