Whitman laughs off Fiorina’s open-mic gaffe

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman was gracious Thursday about U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina’s comment questioning the strategic wisdom of Whitman appearing on Sean Hannity’s television show on Fox.

The comment, along with another in which she poked fun at Sen. Barbara Boxer’s hairdo, were caught on a live mic that Fiorina was unaware of Wednesday. Fiorina has apologized to Hannity.

“You know what, things happen early morning on TV,” Whitman said, chuckling as she spoke to reporters after holding a rally at the San Jose Tech Museum. “Having been now, you know, in the race for 15, 16 months, you can actually see how it happens. Carly and I are good friends and I’m looking forward to running with her.”

But Whitman seemed less enthusiastic about her Republican ticket-mate compared to earlier in the week, when she called her “fabulous.” On Thursday, that line in her speech was changed to Whitman giving Fiorina a “quick nod.”

--Seema Mehta in San Jose