Linda McMahon and Richard Blumenthal met earlier this morning for a debate in the Connecticut Senate race — and didn’t pull their punches.
As the New York Times reports, the Republican went on the offensive, claiming that the Democrat Blumenthal made false claims about her company.
“Maybe you just misspoke again, like the time when you talked about how you had served in Vietnam,” Ms. McMahon said dryly, referring to the attorney general’s explanation earlier this year that he had “misspoken” when he said on several occasions that he served in the Vietnam War, though he did not.
Mr. Blumenthal, who was in the Marine Reserves during the war and never left the country, gave her an icy stare before turning back to the audience at the packed banquet ball, and told them that he had inadvertently “mischaracterized” his military service on only a few instances.
“I regret it,” he said. “It was unintentional.”
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Bringing The Smackdown: Linda McMahon’s Campaign For Senate, And Her Colorful Pro-Wrestling Past]
At their first debate on Monday night, McMahon didn’t talk about Blumenthal’s Vietnam scandal at all. It only came up once, and that was from the moderators, when they asked each candidate to respond to the other’s recent attack ads.
On the other hand, Blumenthal didn’t hold back at all on attacking McMahon over various alleged mucky stories about the WWE — the pro-wrestling empire for which the Republican nominee once served as CEO. Perhaps with the election getting ever closer, and the polls showing an increasing lead for Blumenthal, there is a clear need for McMahon to not pull any punches.
The TPM Poll Average gives Blumenthal a lead of 51.6%-43.1%.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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