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 The former business executive and only woman in the 17-strong
Republican presidential field won rave reviews for a strong
performance in the early debate on Thursday, out of the prime-time
spotlight.
Fiorina's name spiked on Google searches and in Twitter references
after she tangled with the six other Republican candidates relegated
to the early show, away from the blinding media glare created by
front-runner Donald Trump.
Republican activists and donors said Fiorina, whose campaign and
allied Super PAC lagged in the Republican money chase with a
combined $4.8 million raised at the end of June, should quickly see
financial benefits from her performance.
"Nothing attracts money like success, and success in a debate is
second only to winning Iowa and New Hampshire as you move into the
early primaries," Republican fundraiser Fred Malek said.
 Fiorina's campaign sent out two fundraising appeals touting her
performance within hours of the debate's end, including one showing
the 10 men who participated in the prime-time debate with the
caption "What's wrong with this picture?"
Fiorina, whose support registered at less than 1 percent in a recent
Reuters/Ipsos poll, urged attendees at a gathering of conservative
activists in Atlanta on Friday to go to her website and sign up to
donate "your treasure or your time or your network of people you
deal with."
Fiorina's campaign declined on Friday to say if her performance had
led to a spike in donations.
But Larry Sonsini, a California attorney and Fiorina donor, said he
got several emails and three phone calls about her debate
performance early on Friday, and he expected her donor base to start
growing quickly.
"Name recognition is so important on the donor side," Sonsini said.
"I can't help but believe that her coffers are going to expand."
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The 60-year-old Fiorina was forceful and sharp in the Thursday
debate, keeping her sound bites tight and on message while taking
shots at both Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Kim Reem, president of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women, said
a luncheon she attended on Friday was dominated by talk of Fiorina's
performance.
"And even last night I went to a watch party for some friends for
the second debate, and we sat there talking about Carly and her
performance in the first debate. She actually won both" of the
debates, she said.
The former Hewlett-Packard Co chief executive, who badly lost a 2010
Senate bid in California, told reporters in Atlanta she did not plan
any big changes in her approach after the debate.
"I learned long ago that the most effective way to compete is to
play your own game, and I've been competing with men my whole life,"
she said.
(Additional reporting by Grant Smith; Writing by John Whitesides;
Editing by Mary Milliken)
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