And that's the bottom line, because Linda McMahon for Senate says so. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Linda McMahon has just won the nomination from the Republican Party to run for the United States Senate. One of the two seats for Connecticut is being contested this fall. Linda McMahon is indeed the wife of Vince McMahon Jr., and she is the former CEO of WWE Entertainment. She stepped down from her position in the company to run for the Senate seat that will be vacant soon, as Senator Chris Dodd is retiring as soon as his term expires.

GOP can smell what McMahon is cooking

Linda McMahon’s campaign is getting attention because she is running without taking a dime from taxpayers, any Political Action Committees or from special interest groups or corporations. According to ABC, she’s spent $22 million of her own money on her campaign so far and doesn’t mind spending a lot more between now and November. Her opponent Dick Blumenthal, the Democrat candidate, has served as Attorney General of Connecticut since 1991, after serving terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives and Connecticut Senate.

Is her campaign platform a steel cage?

Linda McMahon is identified as a stringent neo-conservative. Fiscally conservative policies, with emphasis on deregulation and job creation, are big parts of her platform. She expressed agreement with Obama’s approach to the Afghan war, and she is somewhat hawkish on Iran. She’s already created controversy with mainline Republicans, having donated money to a Republican pro-choice PAC, though opposed to partial-birth abortions. She also is far more friendly to LGBT rights than the President is, as she has stated Don’t Ask Don’t Tell should go and the marriage issue should be left to the states, according to an interview with the Connecticut Mirror.

So what’s the bottom line?

Well, it’s another rich and famous person running for office. Not that we haven’t seen that before, but she was the CEO of a company that became the only professional wrestling organization to be publicly traded and almost as popular as NASCAR. (Granted, the McMahons own most of the shares.) She has some very popular platforms, and she may well prove to be exactly what voters are looking for. So what are you gonna do, brother, when Wrestlemania goes to Washington?

Further Reading

ABC

Connecticut Mirror

Richard Blumenthal, on the right, is facing accusations of exaggerating his Vietnam service. Image from Flickr.

The Connecticut Senate race has seen its share of ups and downs, but the most recent question, about Blumenthanl’s Vietnam statements, has raised the temperature even more. The front-runner in the race for much of the last year, Richard Blumenthal has banked on Vietnam service as well as his political record. He is running against Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wresting Entertainment who has given her campaign no fax cash advance loans of more than $14 million of her own money. What are the accusations being leveled about Blumenthal’s Vietnam service, and are they true?

Richard Blumenthal Vietnam statements

The accusation, leveled by the New York Times and claimed by McMahon’s campaign, is that Blumenthal Vietnam statements are contradictory. Blumenthal did not serve it Vietnam, though he did serve in the Marine Reserves in the 1970s. The statements at issue include multiple speeches in multiple places. The two that best exemplify this Blumenthal Vietnam dichotomy are:

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam.”

followed by:

“Although I did not serve in Vietnam, I have seen firsthand the effects of military action, and no one wants it to be the first resort…”

See video of Richard Blumenthal Vietnam statements

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEZm_Gc8-Xw&feature=player_embedded

The McMahon connection to Blumenthal Vietnam story

While it is not unusual for political opponents to feed the press stories about each other, McMahon’s campaign has taken the unusual step of claiming the Blumenthal Vietnam story. A Republican contender for the Connecticut Senate seat, McMahon has consistently fallen behind Blumenthal in the polls. At the same time, her campaign has been gaining ground in the last few months. The campaign proudly took credit for the Blumenthal Vietnam story, saying “This is what comes of $16 million, a crack opposition research…” Political spending on opposition research is an accepted and expected part of the spending of campaigns, but the $16 million allegedly spent to discredit Blumenthal is one of the highest figures for a recent Senate race.

Reaction of Blumenthal to Vietnam accusations

In reaction to the Blumental Vietnam accusations leveled by the New York Times and McMahon campaign, the Blumenthal campaign came out guns blazing. The Communications Director for the campaign said “It’s no surprise Republicans would want to smear the Attorney General, considering all of the debauchery at the WWF under Linda McMahon’s watch,” while the Campaign Manager took a less slanderous approach by saying “Unlike many of his peers, Dick Blumenthal voluntarily joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1970 and served for six months in Parris Island, S.C., and six years in the reserves. He received no special treatment from anyone. Dick has a long record of standing up for veterans.”

So what do you think? Has Richard Blumenthal deliberately misstated his Vietnam service record, or have reports been simply unclear?

Sources:

New York Times
Daily Caller
Politico
Washington Post