Carly Fiorina will head up Senate GOP fundraising

Nearly eight months after she lost her bid for California Senate, Carly Fiorina has emerged back into the political limelight.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee announced today that Fiorina will serve as vice chair of the committee for the 2012 campaign, where she'll focus on fundraising for Senate Republicans.

The former Hewlett Packard chief lost her bid to unseat Barbara Boxer in last year's California Senate campaign after running a campaign that many Republicans criticized as inept. Among their criticisms: Fiorina's so-called "demon sheep" ad, which was endlessly mocked throughout the 2010 campaign.

Fiorina ultimately lost to Boxer by 10 points, but one thing Republicans have never mocked is her fundraising skills.

As chairman of the Republican National Committee's Victory Committee in 2008, she helped raise tens of millions of dollars for the GOP. Last year, she raised more than $15 million for her Senate bid--not including the nearly $6 million she contributed to her own campaign. Her fund-raising abilities prompted some to float her name as a possible RNC chair last year.

In picking Fiorina, Senate Republicans are clearly hoping to tap into her contacts of well-heeled venture capitalists and other tech industry types in California. The NRSC has been narrowly outraised by Senate Democrats so far this year—a stat Republicans want to change as they make a play to regain majority control in 2013.

(Photo of Fiorina: Ann Johansson/Getty Images)