Biden plans a California trip to help Boxer raise cash

Vice President Joe Biden plans to head West next month to help California Sen. Barbara Boxer build her campaign war chest for her general election battle with Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard.

The Boxer campaign said Wednesday that Biden will raise money for the Democrat in Silicon Valley on July 8 and in Los Angeles on July 9. President Obama raised nearly $3.5 million for Boxer and the Democratic National Committee during a trip to Los Angeles in April.  He made a second visit for Boxer in late May—raising $600,000 for Boxer and $1.1 million for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at two events in San Francisco.

When candidates submitted their latest financial filings in May, Boxer reported $9.6 million on hand. But the campaign has been playing up Fiorina’s wealth in their solicitations. During the primary, Fiorina lent $5.5 million her campaign.

In a blog post this week, Boxer’s campaign manager, Rose Kapolczynski, asked supporters to join the “Be a Boxer” campaign team by contributing $15 dollars a month to “give us a budget we can count on” in a contest against a multi-millionaire. Membership at that level—“middleweight”—gets supporters a chance to listen to the senator talk strategy on a conference call this Saturday or a choice of a tote bag or pair of boxer shorts.

-- Maeve Reston in Los Angeles

twitter.com/LATimesReston