Tuesday, November 2, 2010

And She's Down for the Count

I rarely talk about politics on The Wheel, but I wanted to share this bit of news with you. Earlier this evening, Linda McMahon, U.S. Senate hopeful and former CEO of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, was crushed by the steel chair of defeat.

This makes me happy.


I'm registered as an independent here in Connecticut, and over the past week I dutifully reviewed the stances for every candidate in every race in my area. That is, except for U.S. Senator. That one I'd decided on months ago. And it had nothing to do with McMahon's political stances. Here's why:
  • Linda McMahon raised over $46 million for her campaign... in a state that has approximately 2 million registered voters. According to opensecrets.org, this was twice the amount of the 2nd highest total raised by any other U.S. Senate and House candidates this year.
  • Almost all of that was self-funded.
  • She sent out, on average, three mailings a week to every household. This started for us well before the primary, although neither Denise nor I are Republican and we couldn't vote in it. I suspect if we'd kept the flyers instead of recycling them, the pile may have reached up to my waste waist.
  • We received multiple calls from supposed pollsters, asking questions heavily skewed against her opponent (Democrat Dick Blumenthal).1
  • Despite this monstrous waste of funds, McMahon spent much of her campaign calling out Blumenthal for how much of the state's money he had spent during his time as Attorney General, and touting how she — as a financially savvy businesswoman — would be able to save the state money.2
  • And, regarding her financial savvitry: Her wrestlers in the WWF WWE had to buy their own health care, and the WWF WWE owns the rights to the names and images of every character they created. (See Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson)
Though my decision was already made, it was reinforced yesterday. At a rally on the University of Connecticut campus, a protester allegedly shoved one of McMahon's supporters. Her spokesman explained it thusly:

"A disappointing incident occurred this morning on the UCONN campus when a male protester at a pre-election rally shoved a young woman supporting Linda. She is fine and has declined to file charges against him, but it is disappointing that Dick Blumenthal's campaign has resorted to intimidation."

That's right: Blumenthal was behind it. Oh, and here's the kicker: The protester in question? He's with the Green Party.

Linda McMahon tried to buy the election with $46 million of her own money, and with more than half of the precincts reporting, that's the percentage she's got: 46%, compared with Blumenthal's 52%. The race was called in Blumenthal's favor within minutes after the polls closed.

So long, Linda. Don't let the ladder hit you on the way out.


1 Although, I have to admit this is a creative tactic. As an entertainer, she does know how to spin things to her advantage.
2 And as a federal employee, no less.

5 comments:

  1. The thing I miss most about not having a landline is arguing with the push pollsters. They're just guys trying to make a buck, extra-low income earners. They're not fanatics. They're given a script and they have to read it. Most of them don't even know what a push poll is. Once you refuse to answer a question with any of the answers they've provided, the call usually grinds to a halt. They're not allowed to hang up on you, but they're not allowed to let you answer in any fashion than what's actually listed.

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  2. i can't stand how i have to watch horrible negative ads for people running that i can't even vote for. Seriously, get off my TV

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  3. I had to vote with a provisional ballot last night, which was annoying because I couldn't vote in all sorts of races (and also because I'd changed my registration MONTHS ago, *grumblegrumble*), but I was happy that I could, at the very least, vote against Linda McMahon.

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  4. Joe, I don't have a landline either, but I still got the luxury of the pseudopoll. Near the end, it was fun to mess with the guy and say that Blumenthal lying about his Vietnam service made me "much more likely" to vote for him.

    Falen, just for you I've gotten all those negative ads off your TV. Go ahead, take a look.

    KM, reactive voting is one of my favorite types of voting! That's why I voted for Blumenthal, Senator Palpatine, and Kodos.

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  5. I didn't know about this, but I love the story and how it turned out. Think of what one could do with 46 million - if you put that towards helping people, they'd write you into office (or at least sainthood).

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