Feb. 01--REPORTING FROM DES MOINES -- Businesswoman turned presidential candidate Carly Fiorina recalled the beginning of her campaign last spring.
"No one knew who I was. No one had ever heard my name," the Republican told several dozen people at a photography exhibit here recently. "The pundits wrote me off.... But the people of Iowa showed up in dining rooms, living rooms and restaurants, and you listened.
"And I'm here to tell you ... on Monday we're going to surprise people here in Iowa and we're going to leave here with the wind at our back."
It's an optimistic assessment that clashes hard with the reality on the ground as this state holds the first presidential nominating contest in the nation.
Over the last nine months, Fiorina crisscrossed the state and held 138 town halls, rallies and meet-and-greets, among the most appearances for a GOP candidate. Her charisma on the stump, which she displayed in California in 2010 during an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate, remains indisputable.
"I hear her speak and I trust her more than any other candidate, said Kate Caitsuttie, "and I've heard them all." The 28-year-old from Des Moines plans to caucus for Fiorina.
For a brief moment as summer turned to fall, Fiorina rose in the polls.
During the first GOP debate in Cleveland in August, she was relegated to the undercard debate for second-tier candidates because polls showed she had little support.
A sterling performance drove up her numbers, landing her a spot onstage at the September prime-time debate at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. She again delivered a well-regarded performance and memorably confronted GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who had made critical remarks about her appearance.
In the aftermath, Fiorina's polling hit double digits in Iowa.
But since October, the former Hewlett-Packard chairwoman has been mired in the low single digits. In the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll released Saturday, Fiorina drew the support of 2% of likely Iowa GOP caucus-goers, tied for last place.
The decline, according to political observers, is a combination of her squandering her post-Reagan debate momentum, the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino placing an even greater emphasis on foreign policy experience and a crowded GOP field.
"She deftly fought her way to the main debate stage and had a killer performance, but then she didn't know what to do with the moment," said GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, who is in Iowa to observe the caucuses. "Voters noticed her, considered her and then returned her to the lowest tier of the candidates."
seema.mehta@latimes.com
Twitter: @LATSeema
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