Good news, if you believe in internal polls. According to Linda McMahon, she's running almost even with Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. As much as I would like to see this turd wagon get body slammed on election night, I find it hard to believe, but its possible. Just slightly. I have to take it with a grain of salt though since all other reputable polls show Blumenthal leading McMahon, the former CEO of the WWE, by anywhere from nine points to on up in double digit territory.
What happened? At one point McMahon was surging and was knocking at the door of the margin of error, and then-something let the air out. She went off offense, and Blumenthal's numbers went up. So much for how much everybody hates negative ads.
I'm going to be blunt here. Linda McMahon was probably the wrong person in the wrong race in the wrong state. Her history with the WWF is questionable, especially the allegations of steroid use among wrestlers, something that she, as CEO, is somewhat responsible for. After all, if this has been such a systemic problem-and I have little doubt that it is-she would almost have to have been aware of it.
Then of course there's the whole wrestling deal in general. There are those who think it sets a bad example to youth and all that crap, and I can't imagine the general populace of Connecticut feels much differently.
Add to these problems the simple fact that McMahon is, let's be honest, not very likable. This all adds up to a big problem. If you are going to run as a Republican in a state as blue as Connecticut, you had damn well better be likable.
Now personally, I'm sure Linda McMahon is a fine person. Hell, I'd do her. But she doesn't have the right personality for this.
Having said all this, Blumenthal is by no means a prize, and if anybody deserves to be tossed from the top of the turnbuckle and hit over the skull with a folding chair-preferably a real one-its him. He's smarmy, arrogant, and an all-around son-of-a-bitch who has gone out of his way to prosecute small businesses for the smallest infractions, and even lied about his military service, falsely claiming to be a Vietnam veteran, a charge which still surfaces from time to time.
I hope I'm wrong in this reading. Maybe the six of cups signifies a sense of nostalgia among enough voters for the good old days of the WWF and WWE, or maybe even a longing for the way things were in general terms-which if it is true, would mean that older, more conservative voters might put McMahon over the top, depending on what the GOTV effort looks like for both sides.
Unfortunately, I'm very much afraid that if anything it signifies that McMahon is going to quickly go back to her old life very quickly. It's going to be a painful loss, if lose she does, because that means that ass Blumenthal will be in the Senate.
Which, when you stop to think about it, is a big inducement for Connecticut voters-to get his ass out of the states AG office. Maybe then, Connecticut business people can breathe a little easier.
At any rate, the way things look, I'm going to have to very reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, call this for Blumenthal, whom I suspect will win handily, by at least five or six points.
I guess that's a respectable enough showing for a first time candidate running as a Republican in blue-state Connecticut, even for one who has invested a lot of her own fortune in the race-something that might also give some voters pause.
I only hope she isn't trounced too badly, for the simple fact that it might not bode well for down ticket Republican candidates if her defeat ends up looking similar to this-
