By Todd Beamon
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said on Wednesday that billionaire businessman Donald Trump should not be dismissed in his bid for the nomination.
Trump is "hitting on issues that Americans care about," Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., told CNN. She entered the race last month.
In a rousing speech at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York on Tuesday, Trump declared: "I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.
"I will bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places," he said.
The developer vowed to rebuild the nation's infrastructure and create jobs, saying that U.S. unemployment has risen too high, even beyond 20 percent, challenging government figures that put it at under 6 percent.
He also slammed two Florida rivals, Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush, saying that they "don't have a clue" on how to lead the United States.
Meanwhile, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin championed Trump's entry into the presidential sweepstakes.
"Mr. Trump should know he's doing something right when the malcontents go ballistic in the press!" the 2008 vice presidential candidate said Wednesday on Facebook. Her post included a photograph with Trump.
"There is no denying Donald J. Trump's accomplishments and drive to create opportunity for every willing American to succeed. His own success is testament to the job-creating achievements made possible when one applies the courageous and tenacious pro-private sector precepts we need to fire up the economy."
Palin said that Trump was joining "a competitive field of GOP candidates that will duke it out in the arena of ideas and track records, a field representing diverse achievements.
"This, in contrast with the pro-big government party's practice of merely anointing a chosen one, thus robbing voters of healthy debate," she added, in a slap at the Democratic Party and its current front-runner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Key to conservative's victory is to do our own vetting of each candidate, focus on their ability to unleash America's entrepreneurial spirit and dramatically shrink government in order to prioritize our nation's security," Palin said. "That means we ignore the media's participation in the liberals' pantsuit politics of personal destruction.
"Then, on an even playing field, in 2016 we charge forward after the radical left hears America shout, 'You're fired!'" she said.