Carly Fiorina Says Rose Bowl Tweet 'Tongue-in-Cheek'

Carly Fiorina, the Republican presidential hopeful who wrote Friday on social media that she was supporting the University of Iowa in the Rose Bowl over Stanford University, where she earned her bachelor's degree, said Sunday that the post "was a tongue-in-cheek tweet."

 "Love my alma mater, but rooting for a Hawkeyes win today," Fiorina said in the Twitter missive, which was retweeted almost 1,000 times.

 "Oh for heaven’s sakes, can’t a girl ever have a little bit of fun?" the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive said on CNN's ''State of the Union.''

 "People in Iowa understand," she added when asked if she was merely pandering to the state that will hold the nation's first presidential nomination event on Feb. 1. "They knew that my heart was torn."

Stanford's Cardinals routed the Iowa Hawkeyes 45-16 in the 102nd playing of the traditional New Year's Day football game in Pasadena, California. That led to the rise of new Twitter hashtag, #CarlyCurse.