• CT-Sen: Could the GOP field for the Connecticut Senate primary actually grow to six? We all know about ex-Rep. Rob Simmons, state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, ex-Ambassador Tom Foley, and Paulist economist Peter Schiff. But now two others are interested: businessman Jack Orchuli, who lost big-time to Chris Dodd in 2004, and businesswoman Linda McMahon. If the name sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because she’s the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and wife of Vince McMahon. (Well, if Jesse Ventura can become Governor, I suppose anything’s possible.) Opposition researchers will have a field day with her track record, no doubt starting with her patently unfair treatment of Triple H at WrestleMania 2000.
• IL-Gov: Comptroller Dan Hynes, who recently decided to run against Governor Pat Quinn in the Dem primary after AG Lisa Madigan declined, picked up an endorsement that may help with the 80-and-older set: former Sen. Adlai Stevenson III (who served in the Senate from 1970-1981, and is son of the unsuccessful presidential candidate and archetypal egghead). The endorsement was published at the Huffington Post — where I can’t imagine there are too many readers who remember Stevenson.
• NJ-Gov: Democratic pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner finds that Jon Corzine is starting to move back within the margin of error in New Jersey against Chris Christie. In a 3-way matchup including centrist independent Chris Daggett, Christie leads Corzine 40-35-10, while in a 2-way, Christie leads Corzine 43-37. It seems like some headway is finally being made on driving up Christie’s negatives, with his favorability at 32/31. With the recent Rove linkage reminding people that Christie is, in fact, a Republican, this trend may be poised to continue.
• NY-23: With everyone wondering “who the heck is Bill Owens?” here’s a link to the first mailer he’s sending out to voters in the 23rd, which focuses on job creation and his non-politician credentials.
• OH-18: Rep. Zack Space may avoid a challenge with his potentially most challenging GOP foe: state Sen. Jimmy Stewart, who says he “does not expect to run.” (That’s too bad that Stewart won’t be going to Washington; I was really looking forward to hearing all those letters from Boy Scouts read on the House floor.) Former magistrate judge Jeanette Moll, who lost the 2008 GOP primary, is already seeking the GOP nod for 2010.
• PA-06, PA-07: 2008 candidate Bob Roggio, after sounding vaguely interested, today tells Pa2010 that he won’t run in the open seat race for the 6th after all. Next door in the 7th, businessman Peter Welch sounds like he’s staying in the GOP primary, even if ex-US Attorney and recent gubernatorial race dropout Pat Meehan gets in.
• SC-03: Republican state Rep. Rex Rice continues to build up momentum to take over for retiring Rep. Gresham Barrett. One of his primary rivals, state Rep. Michael Thompson withdrew from the race and endorsed Rice.
• TN-09: Is Willie Herenton crazy like a fox, or just plain crazy? He’s resigning from his position as Memphis mayor to run for the House in the Democratic primary against Rep. Steve Cohen, but now he’s picked up the paperwork to run in the special mayoral election, necessitated by his resignation, in order to succeed himself. He says he’s still running for the House, but apparently needs to continue being Mayor to prevent Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery from screwing things up. (He already has several previous instances of trying to resign from office and then changing his mind.)
Fair trade, knocks previous administration, focus on middle-class, invest in infrastructure, military benefits. Sounds like a Dem to me.
State Sen. Kirk Watson is not running for Governor, instead choosing to seek re-election to the State Legislature.
TX Dems live to suck another day! Schieffer, Kinky or (likely) Ronnie Earle who would be the most politicized candidate we could nominate.
I disagree with CQ’s assessment that Rex Rice is emerging as a favorite in the SC-03 race. In fact, I would say it’s as wide open as ever.
Rex only slightly out-raised Shane Massey and Jeff Duncan because he threw in $30k in seed money, or half his current CoH.
Rex has hired Richard Quinn and Associates to run his media efforts and by the sound of it, they’re doing an excellent job pushing the narrative that Rice is pulling ahead. (RQA also represents folks like Lindsey Graham, AG Henry McMaster, Rep. Joe Wilson, and ran John McCain’s 08 efforts in SC).
However, there are no clear favorites in this race and the universally weak fundraising totals from all half dozen or so GOP challengers leaves an opening for any well-financed SC GOPer to potentially swoop in and take over this race. This one is still a free-for-all.
was her kicking Vince in the “grapefruits” during his match against Shane at Wrestlemania 2001.
Here’s something to consider concerning the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll: Chris Daggett only got 18% name ID, whereas Corzine got 95% and Christie got 82%. Most people haven’t heard about Daggett, at least not yet. But here’s the catch: Daggett gets 10% in the poll. Assuming that all the people who said they’d vote for Daggett also said they recognized his name, 5 out of 9 likely voters who recognized Daggett said they’d vote for him. Granted, this is only one poll. But if he keeps building name recognition, and if half or more of the people who hear of him decide to vote for him, it’s a whole new ballgame.
As I recall from the 2006 Lieberman-Lamont race, the nominee was named at the state convention, subject to any candidate who received 20% at the convention having the right to challenge in a primary. Is that still the case for Democrats? Are the GOP rules the same?
If so, there won’t be six candidates on the ballot.
Best name ever.
I can tell you that Linda McMahon is DOA in both the primary and general. Even if she certainly comes across as everything opposite of a ‘wrestling character’ or a controversial person/businesswoman. In fact, when you hear and see her speak you would never think she could be the CEO of WWE. She does not come across as flamboyant, arrogant, loud, ignorant, shady, vile, and everything synonymous with the WWE’s image. She seems like a dignified, soft-spoken businesswoman. Her husband, on the other hand, is a character if there ever was one. He would be even more DOA than Linda in such a race. Even though he would probably be much more combative than she is in an election. He would be no holds barred…pardon the pun! But Linda is still DOA. So lets go through some of the reasons:
The biggest reason being: The steroid scandal back in the early 90’s. It was a long time ago but it will be dragged back up again if she runs. Also there is a good argument that the WWE’s current ‘wellness policy’ (testing for steroids, other drugs, certain health conditions, etc) isnt up to the best of standards. Im not saying I agree with that argument or not…but many people do agree with it.
The WWE is notoriously anti-union, at least with its wrestlers. Maybe their office workers and security and other non-wrestler employees are unionized, I really dont know, but their wrestlers certainly are not. To be fair, this will probably not hurt her in the GOP primary. And probably every single American wrestling company in the history of the pro wrestling business has been anti-union. I cant think of a single one that hasnt been. Not even WCW’s wrestlers were unionized despite Ted Turner (a staunch liberal) owning the company for a long time. And he was a big wrestling fan to boot. And, from what I recall, WWE does not give its wrestlers pensions and health benefits. Though it does pay for its wrestler’s surgeries if they get injured inside the ring. They also pay for their alcohol/drug rehabs…and recently instituted a policy where they pay for the rehabs of ex-WWE wrestlers (which is very generous, IMO. Not too many corporations will do that). Also, to be fair, most of their wrestlers make enough money to pay for their own health care, and for their family, as well as for a pension. It is up to the wrestlers themselves to spend wisely when they are on the road. It is not the fault of the WWE if they dont and then go broke like Mickey Rourke’s character Randy the Ram.
The WWE’s content. It is violent, lewd, and denegrates women sometimes (bra and panties matches? cmon now). To be fair, again, they are less so than in the past. They now consider their programming to be ‘PG’. While I think its alot worse than PG it is certainly not ‘R’ rated like it was for a long time. But its also not as family-friendly as it was up to 1997 or so. Theres no ‘eat your vitamins, say your prayers, brother!’ in this WWE! Oh and I wouldnt be shocked to see one of her primary/general rivals show footage of Stone Cold Steve Austin giving a defenseless woman the ‘Stone Cold Stunner’. Or footage of other male wrestlers attacking a defenseless woman. Many times when they arent even ‘interfering’ with a match.
So those are some reasons her candidacy will be flawed. But itd be an entertaining ’bout’. And Linda would certainly put up a fight. And Vince would help! And believe me, Vince knows how to play dirty. He helped to wipe out so many of the pro wrestling ‘territories’ back in the 1980s. Due to him having a bigger checkbook, for example. He took so many wrestlers from other companies despite many of them being on a contract. Even though he complained about Ted Turner/WCW ‘stealing’ many of his wrestlers back in the 1990s because Turner had a bigger wallet. And another good example of how dominant WWE is within the industry: WWE ended up buying WCW from AOL/Time Warner back in early 2001, I think by that time under Linda’s watch. Though they never truly took advantage of WCW’s assets. In fact they actually humiliated WCW in the ‘WWE vs. WCW’ storyline. Not a good way of doing business. But it shows that you dont mess with the McMahons! They can get quite personal. WWE literally does dominate the industry and is now the only true ‘major’ wrestling company in America. TNA is close to being a major one but nowhere close to being an actual ‘threat’ to WWE’s bottom line. Like how WCW was back in the 90s. Many non-wrestling fans may shrug at that but you have to realize there was so much competition from the start of the industry’s existence until around the mid-80s. WWE went from being a ‘territory’ (that only ran shows in the northeast and some other places) to a global dominant force. Vince even became a billionaire at one point though he is actually not one today. Due to WWE’s sagging business. So, in closing, this ’bout’, if it becomes one, will be entertaining as all hell. I would not completely rule out Linda from winning…but the chances are very slim. Sure, Ventura did but he didnt have her/WWE’s baggage. She may not have been the head of WWE during some of its scandals and controversies, in the last some 20 years, but she still had a major role in the company. Wikipedia says this about her: McMahon has served since 1999 on the Board of Directors of WWE (known until 2000 as the World Wrestling Federation or WWF). In addition, she has extensive involvement with the charitable work of WWE. In May 1993, McMahon became the President of the WWF, a job she kept until May 2000, and would later become the CEO of the company in May 1997.
Pro wrestling legend Jerry Lawler is running in the October special election for Memphis Mayor. As a Republican in heavily Democratic Memphis. He previously ran for Mayor in the late 90s and got 10%. I believe as a Republican, then, too. Though I believe that race featured many candidates from any party. He is an even bigger wrestling legend in Memphis itself. Memphis use to have its own very successful ‘wrestling territory’, for a very long time, and he was the top guy in it for many, many years. If you watched the Man on the Moon movie, with Jim Carrey portraying comedian Andy Kaufman, you will know who Lawler is. Lawler and Kaufman had a legendary, mainstream wrestling feud back in the early 1980s. And Lawler even appeared in the movie about Kaufman. Lawler and Kaufman even appeared on Letterman together back during the feud. Was a classic rivalry and if Lawler wasnt a local legend before then he certainly was afterwards.