Top tier: Fiorina aggressively reaching out to donors, operatives to expand skeletal campaign

Even Fiorina’s closest allies concede that she doesn’t yet have an organization built to handle the pressures of her current standing in the polls. Her team has been in talks with Jamie Roe, a Miller aide and top political strategist in the state, about coming on board: He played an informal role in helping rally support for Fiorina in the conference’s straw poll, in which she finished second.

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But a few high-profile hires won’t be enough. For if Fiorina’s surge has opened doors for her, it has also left her barebones campaign exposed. Opposition research is already beginning to circulate, and it’s not clear that the operation she has in place can fend off the coming fusillade — attacks Fiorina didn’t have to contend with when she didn’t pose a threat to any of her rivals.

“She’s certainly acquitted herself well. But, you know, it’s a long road,” said Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, the state chairman for Jeb Bush, who recalls that, at this point in the 2012 GOP primary, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum held pole position — only ultimately to fall short. “You have to have the resources, you have to have the organization, the message, and you’ve got to have the drive. You have to earn it every day.”

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