McMahon Campaign Takes Shape: Velvet Glove and Iron Fist. Veteran LaCivita Consulting.

Republican Linda McMahon is the subject of a flattering piece in today’s Wall Street Journal.  It posits that McMahon will showcase her softer side in the coming contest for the United States Senate. It captures the professional wrestling mogul’s ability to connect with voters in retail politicking.

While McMahon stays busy attending events and competing in the congeniality stakes, she’s found time to hire a tough, tested consultant. The Greenwich Republican will continue to receive advice from Chris LaCivita, sources tell Daily Ructions. LaCivita, based in Virginia, is a Marine veteran and recipient of the Purple Heart.  Among his many clients, he advised the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004.

The Swift Boat saga of 7 summers ago became a Democratic catchphrase for blistering political attacks by Republicans.  Democrats have lately been reluctant to utter the Swift Boat charge because Senator John Kerry’s chief defender, veteran Wade Sanders, has been stripped of his Silver Star and jailed on federal child pornography charges. Vietnam has been a no-go zone for Connecticut Democrats since revelations burst onto the 2010 Senate campaign that Richard Blumenthal had developed the jarring pattern of telling audiences he had served in Vietnam when he had not.

LaCivita served as political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during McMahon’s 2010 bid for the Senate.