Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of technology giant Hewlett-Packard, announced her campaign for the U.S. Senate Wednesday. Her entry into the race as a business-oriented, moderate Republican immediately raised the stakes in the 2010 California Senate contest in both the primary, which will include conservative assemblyman Chuck DeVore, as well as the general election contest against incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Speaking to supporters in Orange County, Fiorina promised to use her business expertise to create jobs, cut government waste, stop out-of-control federal spending and trim the national deficit. "Let's start with living within our own means. The rest of us do, why shouldn't Washington?" she said.

Fiorina was diagnosed with breast cancer nine months ago and mentioned her close-cropped hair before starting her speech. "Let me answer the question, what's with the hair?" she said. "After surgery and chemotherapy, breast cancer is officially behind me. I feel absolutely great and I am raring to go."

True to her word, she wasted no time going directly after Boxer. "Sometimes I wonder whether California even has two U.S. Senators," Fiorina said. "There's Dianne Feinstein and then there's...what's her name?"

Fiorina charged that during Boxer's 17 years in Washington, she had passed only three pieces of legislation and written two fiction novels. "What do you say we work together to give Barbara Boxer the chance next year to be a full-time novelist?"

The Boxer campaign responded immediately to the assertion that Boxer had not produced meaningful legislation in the Senate. "Fiorina is just plain wrong about the Boxer record. More than 1,000 of Senator Boxer's provisions have been adopted and enacted into law," the campaign said in a statement. "Fiorina clearly does not understand how to get things done in Washington."

In addition to targeting the senator specifically, Fiorina criticized Washington generally, citing the $787 billion stimulus bill, and what she called the lack of transparency in Washington and a failure to find a balance between protecting the environment and protecting jobs. The final criticism was also aimed at Boxer, who chairs the Senate's environment and public works committee.

While Fiorina repeatedly slammed the incumbent, she never mentioned DeVore, whom she will face in California's Republican primary. Although DeVore has just $144,000 in his campaign coffers for the expensive race, he has recently become a favorite of national conservatives, who announced that they will make the race against Fiorina a top priority in their efforts to elect conservative candidates over moderate Republicans.

Although staunch conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) endorsed DeVore last week, several conservative senators, including John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) are sponsoring a Washington fundraiser for Fiorina later this month. She served as an adviser and campaign surrogate for McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

Fiorina is an especially attractive candidate for national Republicans because she is expected to be able to put millions of her own dollars into the contest. As a new candidate, Fiorina has not disclosed her campaign's finances, but Boxer reported having $6.35 million cash on hand at the end of September.

Now that Fiorina is in the race, her opponents are sure to attack her in kind. Among her vulnerabilities are her sometimes rocky tenure as head of HP, as well her spotty participation in elections. The San Francisco Chronicle researched public records and reported that she had skipped voting for years at a time, and was once dropped from New Jersey voter rolls for inactivity. A spokeswoman called the Chronicle report "just wrong," but also said, "She didn't vote all the time ... she did vote."

During a question and answer session following her speech, Fiorina was asked if she favors term limits. Yes, she said, she favors them and believes Boxer demonstrates why limits are needed. After her final attack on the senator, Fiorina finished her remarks by saying, "I am not a boxer. I am not a brawler. I am a problem solver."