Fiorina: ‘I’m not a neophyte’

GOP presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina defended her lack of political experience on Sunday, saying she has advised cabinet secretaries and heads of the CIA and NSA in their work.

{mosads}Fiorina, who said she has provided counsel to State and Homeland Security secretaries, said that she knows “more world leaders” than anyone else in the presidential field with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton.

“Many, many voters are actually looking for someone outside of the political class,” she told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I’m not a neophyte. I do come to this run with qualifications,” she said.

Fiorina spoke with NBC from South Carolina, where she addressed a major conservative gathering on Saturday and drew a direct contrast between herself and Clinton.

“Like Hillary Clinton, I too am running for president,” she told the Freedom Summit.

“Unlike Hillary Clinton, I am not afraid to answer questions about my track record or beliefs.”

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO is currently the only GOP woman running for president, a status that raises her stock in a contest in which Clinton will play an outsized role.

But Fiorina could have trouble shedding questions about her firing from HP in 2005. On Sunday, she framed her dismissal as a sign of her boldness as a leader.

“It is a leader’s job to challenge the status quo,” she told NBC, saying she was fired in a “boardroom brawl.”

“You make enemies,” she said.

Host Chuck Todd wondered why HP’s stock rose after her firing.

“Every time there is a change with a company the stock tends to go up,” she said.

“The stock market is not a good arbiter of success over the long term. It is more of a reflection of current emotion and conventional wisdom than anything else.”

Fiorina also continued the trend of buying domain names for media figures who ask her about a snafu involving carlyfiorina.org, which she failed to secure ahead of launching her presidential bid. The site now criticizes her for layoffs at H-P.

Fiorina announced Sunday that she purchased chucktodd.org, which now automatically directs users to her campaign site. Fiorina also recently purchased sethmeyers.org.

–This report was updated at 4:12 p.m.