Carly Fiorina will take on Barbara Boxer in a televised debate Wednesday. (Creative Commons)

A few things to watch for in Wednesday’s debate:

• Expect a lot of negativity, and not much focus on actual plans. It’s likely the two candidates will attack each other’s views on tax cuts, abortion, and jobs. Boxer and Fiorina are in a statistical dead heat two months from election day, and nothing cuts an opponent’s poll numbers faster than attacks.
• Boxer, the three term incumbent, will try to paint Fiorina as “so yesterday,” a riff on Fiorina’s microphone gaff in June when she called Boxer’s hair “so yesterday.”
• Boxer will use Fiorina’s anti-abortion, pro-Bush tax cuts stance to convince voters that Fiorina would be a return to the Republican ideals of the past decade.
• Fiorina will counter Boxer's attack by trying to tap into voter anger with government, which is at its highest level in 16 years. Fiorina, former CEO of Silicon Valley company Hewlett-Packard, will also likely argue that she knows how to create jobs, a hot-button issue in a state with a 12.4 percent unemployment rate. 

The debate, which is being held at St. Mary’s College in the Bay Area, begins at 7 p.m. and can be seen live at ktvu.com.   

Reach staff reporter Helen Tobin here.