On Monday October 4, the two candidates for the Senate seat in Connecticut left open by the retirement of Democrat Chris Dodd squared off in a televised debate. The two candidates discussed a litany of important issues and defended their stances as better than that of their opponent. Among the topics discussed were: bailouts, ability to work across the aisle, buying American products, health care, jobs, campaign finance, and even the Tea Party. Many note that McMahon won the debate, but on the whole I believe that the message put across by Mr. Blumenthal will resonate far more with the average Connecticut voter than Mrs. McMahon's message will.
First, when discussing bailouts and the stimulus McMahon said that the stimulus is a failure (not mentioning how she would've voted) and that she would have supported the Auto bailout while "holding her nose." Blumenthal said that he would have regulated stimulus spending more stringently and that he wouldn't have supported the bailouts because they did not benefit the average American, but did benefit Wall Street. However, in saying that the stimulus was a failure, McMahon failed to note that it has successfully saved or created 3 million jobs and that most all of the money for the bailouts will be recovered and possibly with a profit. When discussing their ability to work across the aisle, Blumenthal noted when he worked with other Attorney Generals to fight the influence of tobacco companies, while McMahon noted she had worked with many different people to make deals as CEO of WWE. On this matter it should be noted that Blumenthal was working within the sphere of politics to achieve a goal, whereas Mrs. McMahon was working in the best interest of her company. For someone who wants to represent the average American, this gap in experience favors the experience of Mr. Blumenthal. When the subject of buying American products came up, Blumenthal slammed McMahon for buying products made overseas and also sending jobs overseas as a means of saving money. In McMahon's defense, she cited that the tax bracket the WWE falls in and high labor costs force them to send jobs to and buy products from foreign countries. At any rate, the bottom line is that Linda McMahon was in charge of such decisions and chose the profit margin of her company over the betterment of the American worker.
On the issue of job creation, Linda McMahon explained that Blumenthal and Democrats expect government to have the answer but that entrepreneurs are the ones who will create jobs. However, I want to note that in our current state, it is hard for any small business to compete with large corporations such as WWE and therefore it is imperative that the government regulate abuses by these companies to level the playing field for emerging entrepreneurs. Both candidates noted that the Tea Party were good for politics because they are taking part in the process of government, but McMahon said she is in "lockstep" with them on issues like lowering taxes and reducing the size of government. When health care was discussed, McMahon said she would support repealing the Helthcare Reform that now ensures that no one can be refused for pre-existing conditions as well as allows students the luxury of staying on their parents plan until they are 26 or find full time employment. To say that these two issues are out of line with the will of Americans is absurd and when she explains that tort reform that allows interstate insurance exchanges is the key to health care reform, she is simply broadcasting that she is out of touch with the average American who will surely benefit from clauses such as the ones I mentioned. The last issue I will discuss is campaign finance. In an earlier post I noted that the spending power of McMahon far exceeds that of Blumenthal and that for it to be overcome, Blumenthal must focus on his grassroots campaign. This is exactly the argument made by Blumenthal and one that shows voters he is working from the ground up as opposed to the top down when it comes to the function of his campaign.
On a different note, I want to address the attack ad produced by the McMahon campaign that highlights Mr. Blumenthal embellishing his military career by inferring he served in Vietnam, but in reality was a Marine Corps Reserve. This happened as well in the Illinois Senatorial race when Republican Mark Kirk embellished his military record and the result was his numbers in the polls dropped. It is yet to be known whether this new revelation questioning the integrity of Blumenthal to be honest with his constituents will negatively affect him in the polls, but I believe that the voters of Connecticut will weigh this option and realize that his other stances on key issues in support of the middle-class far outweigh a faux pas in explaining his past. Between October 2 and October 5 four polls have emerged and all of them favor Blumenthal with 3 being double digit leads (+13 is the highest) and the fourth with a seven point lead. So whether or not the debate helped McMahon will be known when the next set of polls emerge. As for now, the ball lies in Blumenthal's court and if he continues to distance himself from McMahon and corporate interest she supports, he will be on his way to becoming the Junior Senator from Connecticut on November 2, 2010.
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