Linda McMahon’s Mid-Summer Strategy in a PDF.
An expensive new front opens this week in Connecticut’s battle for a United States Senate seat. You decide how well the iron fist in a velvet glove of regret and surprise fits Republican Linda McMahon’s latest run at Democratic opponent Richard Blumenthal. It’s his honesty again, this time over campaign contributions. Here’s the McMahon mailer.
The McMahon and Blumenthal campaigns are going at it over Blumenthal’s January boast that he’d never taken PAC money. Mr. Blumenthal’s campaign claims all he meant was that he’d never taken them before, not that he wouldn’t solicit and accept them in this campaign. The 5-term attorney general’s January boast, however, was meant to showcase his virtue, and the clear implication of his declaration was that not taking special interest contributions is good, accepting them is bad.
Mr. Blumenthal’s powers of strategic thinking appear to have taken flight from him since he became a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat hours after incumbent Christopher Dodd abandoned his re-election campaign in January. He was on notice that he would not be facing the sort of penniless no-hoper he’d vanquished in 5 statewide campaigns for attorney general. Republican Rob Simmons still had some money in January and Mrs. McMahon had boatloads of it. Nevertheless, Mr. Blumenthal wanted to place himself on the side where he believes the angels dwell. Now he is accepting PAC money and trying to act like he is not. Mrs. McMahon gets to shine a thousand points of light on his contradictions between intentions and actions.
Mr. Blumenthal keeps tripping himself in a campaign of unforced errors. He’s got plenty to talk about after 20 years in a high profile office. It’s when he reaches too far and tries to take a fact and turn it into a heroic tale that truth won’t sustain that he ensnares himself in trouble. Serving in the Marine Corps Reserves turns into a tour of duty in Vietnam. Lucy Ricardo at her dizziest could have produced a better explanation for his fundraising trip to Canada. It’s not enough to be Clark Kent, he insists at every turn that he’s Superman. He’s allowing Mrs. McMahon to turn him into Inspector Clouseau.
That smarty Charlie Cook, one of the best in the business, is out with a new analysis of the Connecticut Senate race today. His conclusion will make Democrats hoping to hold the seat on the cheap shiver: “We’re not quite ready to move this race into the Toss Up column, but we suspect that such a rating change will be warranted as the general election moves into high gear.”
18 comments
I’d like to hear about more of what Linda could do for us, and not what Dick won’t so. At this stage of the game, I’m simply not planning on voting because I don’t feel comofortable with either of them.
Linda’s website has great info. http://linda2010.com/issues/
Most PAC money is not cool. Is everyone numb to the acronym these days? Political Action Committees – groups with a particular interest or mission that raise money to give to campaigning politicians who will espouse their organization’s mission and interests when in office.
That’s pretty damn close to “buying a seat”. McMahon’s wealth puts her in a position to not have to accept PAC money and that’s a good thing – it definitively states that she is not beholden to any special interest other than those of us who vote for her.
I think that’s the way it should be, don’t you?
Blumenthal’s problem is shared with Obama, who’s presidency, Richard says is not working, they are both narcissistic and have difficulty with facing reality.
The Senate seat, he thought, was his as a divine right and that all he needed was the coronation. In this he shares the Rob Simmons’ syndrome. Blumenthal, apparently, had the idea that he wasn’t going to have to work for the seat, it would be given to him. But winning a Senate seat is not a walk in the park like it was for AG.
Blumenthal doesn’t really have a lot to talk about after 20 years of self service. Take his hitch in the Marine Corp Reserves. He lied about being able to stay in his White House job and continue his deferments. Donald Rumsfeld, apparently, foxed him on that with the declaration that no one serves in the Nixon White House with service deferments. So what’s a fellow to do but sign up in a reserve unit that won’t be going to Viet Nam. With help, apparently he gets into the Washington Marine Reserve unit, serving on the front lines of the Toys for Tots campaign. How can he make being a hero out of that?
Linda talks straight with no fudging on what her plan will do to get Connecticut working. It is on her web site for everyone to see and to ask questions. Linda is strong and can oppose the fat cat elites in the Senate, the Chris Dodds who talk big but make with the smoke and mirrors. Linda has dealt with tough problems and been in tight situations, she is no neophyte, in handling critical issues. Blumenthal is right, Washington is not working and it was his party that caused it and we don’t want a BS attorney messing it up further.
Send Linda to the Senate to attack the economic and unemployment disaster and get America working again.
Did you know that Richard Blumenthal, according to his latest filing, has raised almost $500,000 in PAC money? (http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-campaign-contributions-database-0818%2C0%2C6681582.htmlstory?appSession=10974001218155)
You really should check out the Courant database for the amount of PAC money raised by Democrats versus the amount of PAC money raised by Republicans at http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-campaign-contributions-database-0818,0,6681582.htmlstory
Just saying….
Lawsuits create jobs. When I returned from Vietnam. I never accepted PAC money. I am not an insider.
No wonder he is afraid to come out of the bunker. There is no telling what the next mis-statement might be.
Mr. Blumenthal cannot deny his heritage as an entrenched, career politician who advocates for bigger government, more Federal Control and spending, higher taxes, and more regulation. That is exactly what voters don’t want.
They want — and need — a strong and vibrant private sector. Mrs. McMahon understands the needs of business. She wants to re-prioritize Washington, not perpetuate the status quo.
Most people I talk to don’t care whether or not he accepts PAC money or not nor do they care much about the Vietnam thing. Every day I talk to yet another Republican who tells me they’re voting for Blumenthal. They feel he’s done a good job and even if they disagree with him on some issues, they trust his judgment and think he will make a good US Senator.
If the voters of Connecticut understood the job that Richard Blumenthal is suppose to have done as Attorney General they would hardly be happy. Richard Blumenthal has used the office of Attorney General for 20 years for a singular purpose–promoting himself! The duties of the Attorney General are described in Connecticut General Statute Section 3-125–the key portions are as follows: “The Attorney General shall have general supervision over all legal matters in which the state is an interested party, except those legal matters over which prosecuting officers have direction. He shall appear for the state…in all suits and other civil proceedings, except upon criminal recognizances and bail bonds”. If I practiced law like Richard Blumenthal and treated my clients the way he has treated his client–the State of Connecticut–I would be sued for malpractice, grieved and disbarred.
Ed, I don’t which Republicans you’re talking to. We have been trying to pry Blumenthal from the AG’s office almost as long as we’ve been trying to dump Dodd. He has name recognition and not much esle going for him unless you count his long held reputation as the worst AG in the country. He feels entitled to be the next senator from CT and his campaign makes that glaringly obvious. His approach would have to improve just to get to wishy-washy status. He looks and sounds confused about every issue facing the state and the nation. If he’s not suing someone or preening for the cameras, he’s at a complete loss.
Yes, indeed, it’s time for something and someone different.
At the rate Blumenthal is backpedaling from past statements I expect him to deny practicing law
PAC contributions have become a part of the political process, so normally I would agree that it isn’t a big deal…Mrs. McMahon, however, is scoring points on painting Mr. Blumenthal as a liar.
I think Blumenthal’s military and service record (and support of the military) is perfectly acceptable to the vast majority of the voters. I also believe that most voters are OK with candidates taking PAC money and, to a lesser extent, traveling to Canada for a fund raiser from lawyers.
Like his service record, the PAC and the fund raiser comments are acceptable in this day and age, so, to me, it is a case where Mr. Blumenthal didn’t really need to lie, but did. And as much as he wants to put this behind him, he has not satisfactorily addressed why he lied.
My only conclusion is that it is pathological. And if Mr. Blumenthal is a pathological liar, then he has 74 long days of him, whether he hides in a bunker or comes out swinging.
You’re right scarlet, you don’t know which Republicans I’m talking to. They’re not the typical partisan activists like Town Committee members, tea party, etc., but rather ones who aren’t really that involved. Like it or not, those are the facts.
Just last January Mr. Blumenthal had an insurmountable lead in the polls. He has dropped nearly 40 points in a little over six months. The last poll had him ahead of Mrs. McMahon by only seven points.
If there are Republicans (and Unaffiliated voters) who are still voting for him, they are a vanishing breed — much like the jobs that Mr. Blumenthal has scared out of CT during his tenure as AG.
To Mr. Edfrombranford, that you’ve heard comments favorable to Blumenthal from “typical” Ct. Republicans isn’t surprising any more. But it’s still appalling. By what objective standard has he done a “good job”? How would the “typical Republican” who doesn’t pay attention even know what “jobs” he has done? I must be a one person outlier, but how could the man’s obvious self-boosterism and constant grabs at attention (not to mention his manifest lack of courage to run against an opponent with any chance of beating him) not be repellent? And that was all clear before the information about the misstatements began to ooze out and has to be apparent even to people who (have the good sense) not to pay attention. In an ideal world I would be against McMahon. Not because of the wrestling, but because of her views on things like abortion. I do not know that she will not be a RINO if she gets elected. But I do know what Blumenthal is and will be.
This is the year to vote for none of the above. Blumy is Dodd in a different suit of skin. Linda McMahon powered her way to the nomination as an outsider. She is none of the above. Vote for Linda and you will be pleasantly surprised.
Blumer’s acting like he should get the Senate seat as a lifetime achievement award. We need someone looking forward not backward
mikeyc, you’re misquoting me, you need to learn how to read.
Read post #11 again. Nowhere did I say that the comments I’ve been hearing are from “typical Republicans.”
I don’t know what their “standards” are, I’m simply reporting what they said to me.
We have way too many lifers in this state. I’d love to see some of them try to survive in a reality based employment scenario.
Anyone who votes for this guy is a complete idiot.
He has no integrity, Zero. The guy has been caught lying twice now.
How many other things is he lying about, that we don’t know about?
And if he gets elected as a liar, what’s to stop him?
Do yourself a favor Democrats. If you can’t vote for his opponent, just stay home and do something more productive than cast a ballot for this mediocrity.
Like watch Sesame Street.