It seems that every time I look at a political site on the internet, there is an ad staring at me for the senate candidacy of Linda McMahon. Everyone in Connecticut knows Linda; she ran and lost against Dick Blumenthal in 2010. In a year when the GOP swept the nation, Linda lost big to the Democrats in Connecticut. McMahon had one thing going for her; she had unlimited funds. Linda used her personal fortune to fund non-stop advertising during the campaign. The same seems to be happening again. Despite all those ads, however, Linda McMahon did not even lead the GOP ticket. That place went to Tom Foley who almost won the gubernatorial race even though he spent only a fraction of what McMahon did. So what really happened in 2010 was that the voters of Connecticut got to know Linda McMahon and then voted for her opponent.
In 2012, there is another senate race in Connecticut. Our Independent Democrat, Joe Lieberman, is retiring. On the Republican side, the race is between Linda McMahon who is once again trying to buy the election, and former congressman Chris Shays. I know Shays well; he was my congressman for over a decade. Shays is intelligent and principled. While I do not agree with his views on all subjects (he is a little too "moderate" for me), I know that Chris Shays will be a great senator for Connecticut. Perhaps Shays' greatest attribute, however, is that he actually could win the race. It will not serve the state well for the GOP to nominate McMahon so that she can once again spend a fortune only to lose. The GOP in Connecticut needs to nominate someone who will win in November.
The latest polling supports these facts. A matchup between Shays and teh likely Democrat has a 1% margin, well withing the so-called margin of error. While Shays and the Democrat are tied in the polls, the same Democrat has a lead of more than 10% over McMahon. Since McMahon is the only candidate with significant state wide name recognition, her position in the poll is most significant. The people know her and they reject her candidacy.
It is critical that the GOP run a candidate who could win. Connecticut Comments strongly endorses Chris Shays as that candidate.
No comments:
Post a Comment