Republicans upbeat with a month to go

Linda McMahon at the Mum Parade, via McMahon's Facebook page.

City Councilor Ken Cockayne said that traipsing along with the Republicans' U.S. Senate contender, Linda McMahon, "was like walking with a superstar."
He said that Bristol residents -- who tend to be blue-collar and Democratic -- showed real support for the former wrestling executive as she hoofed it for a few hours Sunday during Bristol's Mum Parade.
Whit Betts, the GOP candidate for the 78th District state House seat, said that after watching McMahon at the parade he thinks she has "a legitimate shot at being able to win Bristol" on Election Day.
"She's inspired a lot of people" with her personal story of rising from bankruptcy to riches, he said, while keeping that common touch.
The GOP's city chair, T.J. Barnes, said he sees "a new energy" in the party that is going to translate into victories at the polls that would not have seemed possible a few years ago.
"We're going to do something very special here in Bristol," Barnes said.
A McMahon victory in Bristol would be a big step toward a statewide win for the Senate seat that Democrat Chris Dodd is giving up.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic hopeful, has been steadily sinking in the polls, unable so far to combat McMahon's millions or find the key to secure support from voters who once backed him routinely.
Barnes said that it's even more encouraging that his party has such strong local candidates, running for the state legislature, that they can not only win themselves, they can help pull in votes for Republicans seeking statewide office.
These are dark days for Democrats.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

McMahon coos at a Bristol baby

As part of a whirlwind tour across the state, Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Linda McMahon spent an hour Monday afternoon hobnobbing with GOP officials and diners at Panera Bread.

When McMahon walked in, she quickly spotted retired city Registrar Ellie Klapatch.

“We’re popping in” all over, McMahon said, as her eyes wandered to a 7-week-old baby boy held by former city GOP leader Gary Schaffrick.

She quickly scooped Evan Schilling, one of Bristol’s youngest residents, and quietly whispered some baby talk to him.

Handing him off after a couple of minutes, McMahon proclaimed, “That was my treat for the day.”

McMahon said she is “cautiously optimistic” about her chances in today’s three-way primary – former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons and stock market guru Peter Schiff are running against her.

“I feel good momentum in this race,” McMahon said.

She apparently has one voted locked up already. Her husband, Vince McMahon, voted absentee because he’s in California this week.

The primary winner will face Democrat Richard Blumenthal, the state's longtime attorney general, in the November 2 general election for the open seat created by U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd’s decision to step down.

Click here for the full story.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Foley, McMahon coming to Bristol

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley is making a campaign stop in Bristol on Saturday morning.
He's supposed to stop by the Crystal Luncheonette at Mafale's Plaza on Main Street about 8:30 a.m. and then shake hands in a few other, unidentified locales.
On Monday, GOP senatorial hopeful Linda McMahon is heading over to Panera Bread at the Shop-Rite Plaza at 3 p.m. She's supposed to hang around for about an hour.
These are great opportunities to shake hands and ask a question. These are real people, not just television characters, and it's best to make sure they never forget that.
If you're trying to make up your mind about who to vote for, they're trying to make it easier for you. Give 'em credit for coming.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

O'Brien: Blumenthal 'has some work to do'

Though Democratic U.S. Senate contender Richard Blumenthal "has some work to do" to rebuild the public's trust, he can wrestle GOP Senate nominee Linda McMahon to the ground, state Rep. Tim O'Brien, a New Britain Democrat, said.
"I hope people will reject the kind of Wall Street, insider politics" that led the Republicans to tap McMahon, an inexperienced multimillionaire, as their nominee, he said.
He said Democats can win with Blumenthal by making the case that they are fighting for average, working people while the GOP is counting on winning with a candidate who can "dump tens of millions of dollars to buy an election."
O'Brien said Blumenthal still has the support of veterans who remember how much he's done for them over the years.
He also hailed the party's gubernatorial choice because Malloy will push for property tax reform and a more fair system of school funding.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

McMahon gives Simmons a smackdown

Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons put up a fight, but in the end he proved no match for the millions that newcomer Linda McMahon could pour into the campaign.
McMahon managed to squeeze delegates at the Republican convention until enough of them fled Simmons and businessman Peter Schiff to deliver her a first ballot nomination as the GOP's U.S. Senate candidate.
That sets her up to take on Democratic Richard Blumenthal in the fall for the seat that U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd is vacating.
Schiff is said to be eyeing a primary. Simmons might, too, though even many of his supporters said they don't see how the former congressman could topple McMahon.

Saturday morning update: Simmons is eyeing a primary. Schiff told reporters he plans to primary, too, though he'll need to collect some 15,000 signatures since he failed to get 15 percent of the delegates to side with him.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Blumenthal tumbles in the polls

A new poll taken last night shows Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal with a 48-45 lead over Republican Linda McMahon. That's 10 points worse than he did two weeks ago.
He leads Rob Simmons by 11 points now compared to a 23 point margin two weeks ago in the Rasmussen survey.
Since the poll was done Tuesday evening, the difference is almost entirely due to the breaking news about Blumenthal's failure to stick to the truth on his military service record.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

McMahon nailed Blumenthal?

On her website, Republican Senate hopeful Linda McMahon explicitly takes credit for the New York Times story zinging Richard Blumenthal:

McMahon Strikes Blumenthal In NYT Article

I suppose all those millions managed to turn up the video of Blumenthal talking to veterans, but who knows? In any case, it's remarkable that her campaign immediately credited itself for the story.
Even so, I can't help thinking it helps Rob Simmons more, given that he's an authentic Vietnam veteran who generally seems to understate what he did over there.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

McMahon violates copyright by reprinting New York Times story

When The New York Times published its blockbuster piece on Richard Blumenthal tonight, Linda McMahon's operatives wasted no time sending out a press release touting the news.
But instead of putting a link to the story, which is fine and dandy, she actually reprinted the entire story, which effectively eliminates the need to go read it on the Times' own site.
There's a word for that: theft.
McMahon ought to know better than to steal words that don't belong to her.
It's a violation of copyright law and it's just plain wrong.
Newspapers are struggling already. Swiping what we write so that we make not one single penny from it is a grotesque way to repay the Times for printing a story that will do so much to help her campaign.
The Times' policy quite clearly states that "copying or storing of any content for other than personal use is expressley prohibited without prior written permission" from the paper.
I strongly doubt that in the 30 seconds McMahon's campaign sat on the information before sending out its press release that she obtained that permission.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

McMahon, Foley seek support in Bristol

Though the political lineup for next year’s hotly contested statewide races remains uncertain, two of the leading GOP contenders pitched their campaigns to the city’s Republican Town Committee this week.
With budget deficits soaring in both Hartford and Washington, jobs in short supply and a growing anger among voters toward incumbents who can’t seem to help, Republicans sense a real opportunity to win both the governor’s race and a U.S. Senate seat in 2010.
“It’s just going to be an exciting year to be a Republican in Connecticut,” said T.J. Barnes, the city’s GOP leader.
Linda McMahon, former chief executive officer of the Stamford-based World Wrestling Federation, said she “couldn’t sit on the sidelines anymore” and vowed to use her own money to unseat longtime U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd.
She said Dodd has “lost his way and lost the trust of the voters” through his questionable investments, failed presidential bid and for being “asleep at the switch” in overseeing the financial industry whose collapse led the nation into the recession.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley, who is technically still running for Senate, sounded every bit like he's made up his mind to run for governor instead.
Foley told city GOP leaders he "can make more of a difference" as a governor than he can as a U.S. senator.Though he declared he would announce this week whether he'll drop his Senate candidacy in favor of seeking the governorship, Foley left everyone with little doubt he'd already made up his mind.As an outsider, Foley said, he could "come in and shake it up" in Hartford and "knock down the status quo" that has the state teetering on the brink of financial collapse."I can make a difference," Foley said.Foley is one of four contenders vying for the right to represent the GOP in the 2010 Senate race, with McMahon, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons and businessman Peter Schiff also in the contest.
If Foley said drops out of the Senate race, he said he's sure that McMahon or Simmons can beat Dodd."He probably can't win unless something changes dramatically in the world," Foley said, because so many people are angry at him, including many Democrats.
At this point, Foley said, he hopes Dodd "will stay in the race" so the GOP can win a crucial Senate seat.Foley said he began to think of switching races after Gov. Jodi Rell announced she would not seek reelection next year.He said if he'd known that six months ago, he would have set his sights on succeeding Rell from day one.Now, he said, he's getting strong support for making the gubernatorial run. The other major contender on the Republican side is Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele.A number of Democrats are also eyeing the governor's mansion, including Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, state Sen. Gary LeBeau, former House Speaker James Amann, former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy, state Healthcare Advocate Kevin Lembo, Rudy Marconi and former U.S. Senate hopeful Ned Lamont.Electing a Democrat as governor, Foley said, would send Connecticut "off a financial cliff" because the majority party has proven itself unable to control costs or hold government accountable.Former state House Minority Leader Edward Krawiecki, Jr of Bristol said that whoever wins the governor’s race faces a tough challenge because Connecticut’s public sector is “completely out of control.”
“We have a broken government,” Krawiecki said, that keeps increasing expenses mindlessly as it caters to public unions.
Foley said there are too many “entrenched special interests,” including the unions.
“The line needs to be drawn in the sand,” Foley said.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com