Today I had an opportunity to meet and have a candid conversation with Carly Fiorina, the former head of HP, who is currently serving as the RNC's Victory Chair. Issues covered in the interview include her new role in support of John McCain and the Republican Party, Barack Obama's success on the Internet, McCain's strong opposition to Internet taxation, Net Neutrality/Open Internet, and her personal use of technology.

Here's the interview via YouTube (full transcript below):

For background and relevant posts from this space that have included Carly, read the following items:
* Thank God! High-Tech Women Taking Hold of McCain Campaign;
* McCain to Embrace the Long Tail of Fundrasing; and
* Will McCain Support an Open Internet?.

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW:

David All: Ok, it’s DAVID ALL with TechRepublican. I’m here with CARLY FIORINA the new Victory Chairman for the Republican National Committee. And what exactly is that Carly?

Carly Fiorina: Well, it turns out that my role really is to advocate for both JOHN MCCAIN and for the Republican Party. And to make sure that as many Americans as possible understand why this is the Party of the future and why John McCain is the right man to be President of the United States.

DA: Absolutely. A few quick questions. Do you have an iPhone or a blackberry?

CF: I have two blackberry’s actually. My husband is an iPhone man so we kind of having dueling technology in the house.

DA: Very interesting. And are you a Mac user or do you stick to HP?

CF: No I’m still an HP user I have to say, although the Mac is a beautiful, wonderful piece of machinery so we may get there one of these days.

DA: Very interesting. Well I actually wrote about you and Meg Whitman joining the team as a real great sign that some strong women who are Republicans are taking a very active role and a very vocal role in John McCain’s campaign. If you can just talk to me a little bit about what it means to be a female and at the top of the Party as you are, and possibly going up against Hillary Clinton and what that could mean?

CF: Well I’ve been a Republican all my life and I’ve been with John McCain on this campaign for the last 15 months. And I first met him in 2000 not associated with his campaign but on the subject of Internet taxation. And I think one of the things that is very important in this campaign is first, that the American people understand that John McCain wants the best and the brightest around him – and if we’re women so much the better – but I think it’s also really important for the Republican Party to reach out to more women – to reach out to all aspects of American society – because we need more than die-hard Republicans to win this election and I think John McCain is the man who can reach out.

DA: Very interesting. And when you were named Fortune named you what, the “Top Woman,” what was the actual title in 1998?

CF: For six years running I was what Fortune Magazine called the “Most Powerful Woman in Business…”

DA: And you didn’t like that right?

CF: I shouldn’t say it that way. Look, it was a tremendous honor, and I think highlighting successful women in business is hopefully an inspiration to others. But on the other hand, the point I made then was if you have one list for women, then what you’re basically saying is that business is like tennis or golf or some other kind of sport. You know, there’s the women’s ladder and there’s the men’s ladder. And business is better – politics is better – if everybody gets to play, so there shouldn’t be a special list for women.

DA: Very interesting. One issue I want to address quickly is what I call the Long Tail of Politics and the Long Tail of Fundraising. Of course this is off of Chris Anderson’s idea and Barack Obama is really tapping in to these folks who have never contributed money before and they’re giving in low contributions. How do you intend to help navigate John McCain toward that direction?

CF: Well first of all we have a very experienced and top-notch fundraising team and I have to say right up front that I’m not a fundraiser so I’m not the expert here. But what I would say is that it’s pretty clear that Barack Obama has done a fantastic job of tapping in to a whole new set of interested parties and in using technology to help him do that. And so we have to do more and more of that. I think it’s fair to say that we have work to do and John McCain says that but it’s also fair to say that we are using technology more and more creatively and aggressively here. So there is a lot going on with search engine marketing for example, and search engine optimization on the campaign. There were some cute things that were done by the RNC around eCards, Valentine’s Day for example. We do more and more in terms of Facebook independence. So we’re doing the right things, we need to do more of them, and I think we need to give Barack Obama his due and say he’s done a brilliant job and we can all learn from it.

DA: Fantastic. One issue I want to talk about is policy. Our community cares about technology-related issues. One issue, which is starting to bubble up more and more, is the issue of Net Neutrality and an Open Internet. I wonder if you had a position on that issue?

CF: Well let me broaden the question slightly because it’s relevant to why I’m supporting John McCain. Innovation is what grows economies. Innovation is what creates jobs. It’s always been true. But sometimes, some people forget that. And innovation can be fostered or it can be inhibited. The reason I went to meet with John McCain in the year 2000 many years ago on the subject of Internet taxation was to make the case that we can’t tax innovation. And John McCain “got it” immediately. He has since said that we ought to ban permanently taxation on the Internet or taxation on mobile technologies, etc. Now why is all that relevant? It’s relevant because if we are going to grow our economy, which is vital, particularly when you look at the jobs reports we’ve seen over the last couple days, then we have to be fostering innovative technologies and we have to be focused on policies that incent and reward innovation. And so that’s the context that I look at Net Neutrality in. Sorry for the long-winded answer, but I think that context is really important and we all know that where we talk a lot about free markets not all of our markets are free. And there are a variety of players today that impact on the Internet – cable companies as an example – I think it’s fair to say that we don’t have a completely free market on this issue today and so there’s some things that government could do to accelerate a true free-market.

DA: There’s a rumor going around saying that you may be in the hat for VP? Have you heard this?

CF: I don’t even think about that. Nobody else should either. The media loves to talk about the rumors of the moment. The media has been spending a lot of time talking about John McCain’s VP choice. John will make that decision when he is good and ready not before. At the very least, probably, I would guess, he’ll wait until we know who the opponent is on the other side. But look, I’m privileged to be able to make a difference I hope in electing a great man to be a great President. And as well, to help introduce the Republican Party to people who may not have thought about the Republican Party before and to invite people to this Party because I think this is the Party of innovation, and job creation, and growth. I think this is the Party of the future.

DA: Well that’s kind of a grandiose idea but let’s take a step back and if we can conclude here, if there’s one thing that you hope to accomplish that’s tangible, that you can reach out and grab, I mean you’re a CEO you have to do this stuff all the time, what would that be?
CF: We have to win in November that’s a really easy answer. We have to win the White House in November.

DA: Well there you go, there you have it. Well thanks very much and good luck and we’ll talk to you soon.

CF: Great, thanks.