Mrs. McMahon’s Quiet Campaign Shows No Progress in Q-Poll. Parson Shays Within 9 in GOP Primary.

Republican Senate hopeful Linda McMahon’s soft campaign to win over women shows no sign of success in today’s Quinnipiac poll. The survey, the first since September in the sleepy contest, has McMahon far behind the Democratic frontrunner, United States Representative Christopher Murphy, by 15 points. McMahon’s hold on the affections of Republican delegates to the May nominating convention should be strong enough to withstand any advantage Maryland Republican Christopher Shays gets by running within the poll’s margin of error in a match with Murphy.

McMahon has been concentrating on holding small, low-key events with women, a demographic that has shown stubborn resistance to the Greenwich entertainment mogul. The latest Quinnipiac poll finds her still “mother-grandmother-only woman in the boardroom” strategy falling far short of where she needs to be to start building some momentum. If Shays gets any closer, she’ll have to unveil one of her trademark fusillades, reminding Republicans of the Vietnam era conscientious objector’s congressional voting record  during his 19 years in the House of Representatives.

The worst news in the poll cascaded upon Stamford state Representative William Tong, who faces Murphy and chronic candidate Susan Bysiewicz. Tong is at a teeny-tiny 4% among Democrats after nearly a year of campaigning and promising to save the American dream. Tong’s campaign sent a dreary fundraising request this morning, noting, “For better or worse, the next measure of our campaign strength will be the quarterly finance report I must file next week on March 31st.” One suspects it will be for worse.