Carly Fiorina takes a licking but keeps on kicking

The business exec turned GOP presidential candidate poses with a voter in Iowa. (Photo: Holly Bailey/Yahoo News)

LE MARS, Iowa—It was barely 10 a.m. when Carly Fiorina walked into the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor here in what locals proclaim the “Ice Cream Capital of the World.”

In a room just upstairs from the old-fashioned soda fountain looking like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO was met by about 50 voters — including at least one who was sipping from an ice-cream shake.

“Ice cream for breakfast sounds pretty good,” Fiorina admitted, marveling at how good it all smelled. Around the room, many in the crowd nodded, and some even closed their eyes and sniffed a heavenly aroma of fresh cream and waffle cones. It was not your typical early morning campaign event.

But nothing has been typical for Fiorina in recent weeks. On the ground here, the lone woman in the GOP race appears to be having what some call “a moment.” Fiorina does not lead the polls in Iowa, but she’s inching up. A recent CNN/ORC survey found her with just 7 percent support among likely GOP caucus-goers — tied for fifth place with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 caucuses. But in a pack of 17 candidates, Fiorina’s standing here is considered serious enough that the Des Moines Register recently assigned a reporter to follow her around full time — something it does only for the top-tier candidates.

The crowds are getting bigger, too. On Wednesday night, around 225 people turned out to hear Fiorina speak in nearby Cushing. When a local reporter pointed out to the candidate that Cushing’s population is only 200 — meaning she’d attracted more people than live in the entire town — Fiorina could not suppress a big smile.

But none of that means Fiorina, who was relegated to the lower-tier debate sponsored by Fox News earlier this month, will make the main stage next time. On Wednesday, her campaign openly complained that, in determining who will make the main slate at its Sept. 16 forum, CNN plans to include numbers from national polls conducted before the first debate, in which Fiorina by most accounts did well.

A Fiorina aide said more recent polling should be given more weight and called on the Republican National Committee to intervene. But so far it has refused.

In Le Mars, Fiorina spoke out about the process again, asking why national polls were even being included at all. “We don’t have national primaries. We have state primaries and state caucuses,” she said.

And she reiterated her campaign’s argument against CNN’s plan to include polls conducted in July and early August rather than more recent surveys. She likened it to a sports team that played “great all season long” but is blocked from the playoffs because of lousy preseason games. “Why would they do that? Hmm. I don’t know. I could think of some reasons,” she said. “Could it be that the establishment and CNN doesn’t want me on that debate stage? Perish the thought.”

Asked afterwards to elaborate on why she thought the RNC and others were trying to keep her out of the top-tier debate, Fiorina declined to say.

Afterwards, the GOP candidate walked downstairs where a woman who had been in the audience insisted on buying her ice cream. Fiorina, who reported a net worth of $59 million in a candidate financial disclosure in June, at first declined but then agreed to a cup of mint chocolate chip.

“Sugar free, please,” she said.