Many have asked the question, but few compelling answers have been forthcoming. Who is Carly Fiorina?
We know she wants to be President of the United States. The 60-year-old declared one week ago she would seek the Republican nomination, the latest in what is shaping up to be a fairly wide field of contenders.
We know she has serious business credentials, being the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. In that role, she was the first woman to run a Fortune 20 company.
And we know she's a cybersquatter. Her campaign has bought the domain names for at least two US journalists; sethmeyers.org and chucktodd.org, and redirected the address to her own website, carlyforpresident.com.
Fiorina has been a victim of domain "theft" herself, with carlyfiorina.org snatched by an opponent who has used the page to point out how many people lost their jobs while she was CEO at Hewlett-Packard. The website is a wall of frowning face symbols that concludes with the refrain: "That's 30,000 people she laid off. People with families."
Which segues nicely into the legacy that is both a strength and a weakness for Fiorina: her six-year tenure at the top of what is now a $US60 billion company. Business acumen carries great esteem within Republican circles, and it is a background Fiorina herself emphasised when she unsuccessfully contested the US senate for the blue state of California in 2010.
"Might there be a better choice?" she asked voters, after slamming the economic credentials of her "tax and spend" Republican rival, Tom Campbell.
"Someone who has not made a career of politics? A political outsider? Perhaps a proven fiscal conservative, who has accomplished enormous things in life? Now that sounds like the right choice for California."
Those lines were from a campaign advertisement that came to be known as the "demon sheep" ad, a bizarre, three-and-a-half-minute attack ad in which she labelled Mr Campbell a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and a FCINO - Fiscal Conservative In Name Only. Frank Bruni at The New York Times summed it up adeptly at the time. "Fiorina presents herself as a businesswoman, not a bureaucrat, capable of bringing private-sector savvy to a beleaguered economy," he wrote. She ended up winning the Republican nomination, but lost the senate election to the Democrats' Barbara Boxer.
That was five years ago, but little has changed in Fiorina's pitch to voters. In the week since announcing her candidacy, she has continued to campaign as the anti-politician - the outsider. "Our founders never imagined a government led by career politicians," her website explains. "It's time to put a citizen leader in the White House."
Shaking up the system may have some appeal for the vast majority of voters who feel disenfranchised from Washington and disappointed in Congress. But entrusting a CEO to run the country is a long shot, especially so soon after the Great Recession, as it has become known in the US. And that's before you consider Fiorina's term at the helm of HP, which has been variously described as "controversial", "a disaster" and "C-minus". She was fired by the board in 2005 - though the integrity of the board itself was later called into question when two directors resigned following allegations of leaking confidential information.
Fiorina as CEO led a bitter merger with Compaq and about 30,000 employees lost their jobs. HP's stock price dipped 50 per cent and tension simmered at the top echelons of the company. According to The Wall Street Journal, some employees held impromptu champagne toasts upon Fiorina's removal, describing the mood that day as "jubilant".
Since that time, Fiorina wrote a book (Tough Choices, eerily similar in title to Hillary Clinton's later memoir Hard Choices), served on several private boards and acted as chair of organisations including the American Conservative Union Foundation.
But there is little evidence she is any more popular among Republican voters than she was among HP employees. A Bloomberg poll in New Hampshire, where the first primaries will be held, ranked Fiorina tenth in the field of Republican candidates, behind Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and others.
As such, the prospect of Fiorina becoming commader-in-chief seems unlikely. But it was speculated she could be seeking the vice-presidential nomination, with echoes of Sarah Palin being recruited as John McCain's running mate in 2008. When journalist Katie Couric put that question to Fiorina last week, the former businesswoman took it personally, accusing Couric of sexism.
In the course of her California campaign, voters got a taste of what Fiorina stood for - other than the private sector. She was critical of abortion and state funding for it, but believed it should be legal in instances of rape, incest and where the mother's life is in danger. She was not just pro-gun rights but pro-gun, arguing that even people on the no-fly list should be allowed to carry weapons. She called for the repeal of "Obamacare", the landmark healthcare reform Barack Obama fought to get through Congress in his first term.
Asked to speak to Fiorina's character, Fred Davis, the man who made the notorious "demon sheep ad", told Politico: "I've never seen a stronger constitution in my life." Part of his evidence was the way Fiorina had beaten breast cancer, after being diagnosed in 2009. She underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, and by now can be fairly called a "survivor".
And bravado is one trait you could not accuse Fiorina of lacking. She knows that, in the highly improbable event she comes from behind to steal the Republican nomination, her most likely opponent will be Hillary Clinton. It is for Clinton that she reserves her major barbs. Most people agree the former First Lady is one of the most accomplished individuals ever to seek the office of President - but not Carly Fiorina.
"Like Hillary Clinton, I too have travelled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe," she said at January's "Freedom Summit" in Iowa. "But unlike her, I have actually accomplished something. Mrs Clinton, flying is an activity not an accomplishment."
ABC journalist John Barron - also a research associate at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney - writes that Fiorina has some key advantages that might position her as a dark horse. For one, she can criticise Clinton without appearing sexist. Her outsider status, though problematic, also puts her in start contrast to Clinton, the ultimate establishment candidate who would also be establishing a family dynasty.
Fiorina is far from a favourite but she may yet become a face to watch in a crowded race.
