Self-Funded Female Candidate Cites Independence

Unionville, Connecticut (Politics Daily) ~ Linda McMahon – the wrestling entrepreneur and already the fourth most lavish self-funder in American congressional campaign history – has no hesitancy in justifying the $22 million she has spent so far in Tuesday's Republican Senate primary.

"I'm glad in this race I've been able to fund it myself and not take any special interest or PAC money," she said Monday afternoon seated comfortably in a booth at the half-empty Caffeine Cafe during an unpublicized smile-and-hand-shake stop on her primary-eve tour of the state.

Drawing a contrast with typical candidates who must depend on the financial kindness of strangers, McMahon went on to stress: "I'm not looking over my shoulder saying, 'I've got to do this so I can be re-elected. I want to do this because I want to get a new job.'"

Listening to this ode to the independence that comes with money, I could not help wondering aloud whether America was moving toward an era when any girl or boy could grow up to be a senator – after making $100 million.

Maintaining intense eye contact, the unflappable McMahon responded: "People in Connecticut often hear, 'Oh, she's buying the election' . . . People in Connecticut can't be bought. I can sit home and fire off ads. But if I weren't out talking to the people in Connecticut, letting them get to know me, asking me questions – I call it kicking the tires -- I wouldn't win this election."

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