Carly Fiorina gives one heck of a speech.

That was my first impression, a positive one, when I caught up with her in Sacramento in 2010 to chronicle her bid for the Senate.

She had focus, urgency and a brimming arsenal of barbs, just as she does now. She liked to mention an incident in which Senator Barbara Boxer, the incumbent Democrat, once upbraided an Army bigwig for calling her “Ma’am” rather than “Senator,” and she told Californians that if they gave her Boxer’s job: “You may call me ‘Ma’am.’ You may call me ‘Senator.’ You may call me ‘Carly.’ You may call me, ‘Hey, you, remember, you work for me.’ ”

She presented herself as a woman of the people, at our service.

But that wasn’t my impression of her after about a week of attending her campaign events, riding around California with her and interviewing her about her drive and her desires.

Even more so than is usually the case, the candidacy seemed to be all about the candidate. She yearned to silence forever all of the naysaying about her stewardship of Hewlett-Packard, to be validated by voters, to have the final say.