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CT-SEN race looking better and better for Linda McMahon (R CAND).

What in blazes is going on in Connecticut? Quinnipac polled the McMahon/Murphy CT-SEN race, and it found the same results for that race as did Rasmussen: 49/46 for the GOP candidate. The Q-poll is also showing Obama over Romney… by seven points, which as Hot Air notes is actually awful news for the President; he should be up by double digits there. All in all: this is not yet an upset situation… but it is becoming a bit evocative of the Johnson/Feingold WI-SEN race in 2010.

Or it could just be another state moving away from the Red State / Blue State metaphor that we’ve all been using since the 2000 election. It’s easy to forget that as recently as 2006 Connecticut was a state which voted Democratic in Presidential elections, but was more than happy to elect Republicans to other offices; in that year Republicans held the governorship, and the majority of the state’s Congressional Districts. Admittedly, most of those Republicans were what has been diplomatically called Northeastern Republicans, which is a term of art that covers a good amount of intra-party awkwardness; but a seat is a seat*, and rebuilding the GOP in New England will pay dividends down the line.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Linda McMahon for Senate.

*There are a lot of Democrats currently scratching their heads about why we haven’t declared jihad against Scott Brown. Short answer: the Republican party that resides in the collective id of the Democratic party base is not the Republican party of reality. Slightly longer answer: …shoot, most of the people who read this already know the answer, and I don’t really care if the Democrats figure it out or not.

COMMENTS

  • ctredstater

    I have been following this race closely, obviously. I have written several times that if the Obama campaign has a Carter or Dukakis like collapse – early or late, that this is a winnable race. I think two things are in play here.

    One is that McMahon has acquired a clear name recognition over the past several years, having spent more than $50 million of her own money to run ads in two US Senate races. They are as conservative in tone as ads can be in Connecticut and still be plausible for a candidate to win a statewide race. In this cycle, she has directly gone after reducing her gender gap – she previously had a big problem with women voters.

    Second is that she is going against a much weaker candidate – Blumenthal is a legend in CT – he spent decades cultivating this “Kennedy without the scandals” reputation – and he was going to be nearly impossible to beat when he ran for something beyond his AG job. Murphy doesn’t have anywhere near the statewide cred that Blumenthal had.

    My sense is that given the chance Linda would be to the right of Scott Brown – a reliable vote for tax cuts, on budget issues and for Supreme Court nominees. But would make some symbolic blue state votes to try and keep her electoral situation viable for the future. Needless to say, a huge upgrade over any Dem.

    Go Linda Go!!!