It looks like that demon sheep has showed up snarling on Sen. Barbara Boxer’s doorstep. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, the controversial Silicon Valley executive who exploded into the California Senate race with a series of colorful viral videos, is holding the Democratic senator to at least a tie, according to two polls released in the last week. An automated SurveyUSA poll published Monday showed Fiorina narrowly ahead of Boxer, leading the three-term senator, 47 percent to 45 percent. That’s within the poll’s four-point margin of error, but it comes just days after the Field Poll showed Boxer with only a narrow advantage in her fight for a new term, leading Fiorina by three percentage points.

At the very least, these polls will force the Democrats to spend millions (California is a mighty expensive state to campaign in) and will put pressure on Boxer to emerge from her cocoon and agree to Fiorina’s invitation to debate. Boxer has frankly coasted through many election cycles with candidates who were inept or underfunded (or both). Now that she has a viable, articulate opponent, she’ll have to explain her dogged pursuit of a far-left agenda. Maybe that is what California voters want, but I’m thinking they’ll be startled to see just how shrill and liberal their incumbent senator is.