1. The Washington Post is showing the love for Linda McMahon this morning, calling her "a remarkably polished and poised first-time candidate."
McMahon...is ready to embrace the serious success of the company and even the aura of scrappiness it lends her. Then with poise and legalese, she distances herself from wrestling scenes that are sexually explicit and purposefully inflammatory, moments her opponents hope to highlight. That trick is made even tougher by McMahon's star turns inside the ring. While her appearances were nowhere near as regular as those of Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the former governor of Minnesota, her groin-kicking alter-ego nevertheless did combat with her own husband, son and daughter. Watching her recite well-coached corporate talking points to reconcile the two can be a spectacle in its own right.
The Post goes on to lead us through her "well-coached corporate talking points" without questioning their validity. Great journalism, Post!
2. Rob Simmons is not a happy camper. First he was dissed by Joe Scarborough, who gave both Republican Senate hopeful Linda McMahon and Democratic prospective Senate candidate Dick Blumenthal airtime on his Feb 12th "Morning Joe" show. But according to Simmons, ""We inquired, we inquired, we inquired and we didn't get on."
Simmons is also "concerned" about the neutrality of CT GOP head Chris Healy, given his wife Suzan Bibisi's position with the McMahon campaign. According to McMahon's latest FEC report, Bibisi was paid $6,532 on Nov. 30 and a total of $7,206 in December.
A person who "understands the thinking within the Simmons camp" explained:
Another person who understands the thinking within the Simmons camp used far stronger language.
"While the Simmons campaign has held out hope that Healy would prove to be an honest broker, they have since lost confidence based on what they believe are Healy's actions in support of McMahon's campaign and the fact he has a big financial stake that grows each day McMahon remains in the race," the person said.
Healy, during an interview Sunday, said he is still an honest broker and if it can be proved that he asked a delegate or potential delegate to the Republican convention to back McMahon over Simmons, "then I'll quit. ... That's ridiculous." Healy said it is inappropriate for him to support any one candidate, but he said that recently, at the suggestion of some other party insiders, he did ask Simmons whether he would be open to running for the former congressional seat he lost in 2006.
"When people ask me to think about it and make an offer to discuss it with the Simmons people, I have a responsibility to do that," Healy said, emphasizing he was only the messenger.
I remember Anderson Scooper bringing up this conflict of interest at CTLP when we heard the news about Ms. Biblisi hire by the McMahon campaign. He was immediately piled on by the wingers. Wonder if some of those same wingers are amongst those expressing concern now that their candidate is getting buried in McMahon bucks and Healy asked him to bow out of the Senate race and run for Congress. Just as the messenger. #cough#
3. Did you know that Attorney General Dick Blumenthal is the consummate political outsider? Neither did I, but that's the narrative, apparently.
Richard Blumenthal shrugged off the prospect of an Obama campaign visit as "an open question," and has steered clear of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., whose poor reelection prospects contributed to his decision to retire. "I have been independent of Senator Dodd and everyone else in Washington," Blumenthal, the state attorney general, told Yale University students last week.
UPDATE ctblogger:Today, the Government Administration and Elections committee is holding a public hearing on the Citizens' Election Program. You can watch the proceedings online at the CT-N website.
Make sure to watch the video highlights from the Sunday morning talk shows below the fold.
Congressman Joe Courtney made an appearance to Fox61's The Real Story to talk about the issues he's tackling in Washington.
With Connecticut having one the worse educational achievement gaps in the nation, on Sunday morning, State Rep. Jason Bartlett joined educational advocate Danielle Smith on Fox61's Stan Simpson show to talk about the efforts underway at Capitol to address the problem.
After officially throwing his hat into the gubernatorial race, Ned Lamont appeared on all three Sunday shows to talk about his run for the state's top elected post.
Face the State (WFSB):
Connecticut Newsmakers (WVIT), The Real Story (Fox61):
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