Linda McMahon, the chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, announced Wednesday that she has joined the contest for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination in Connecticut.
Her entry adds a good deal of personal wealth -- and perhaps a bit of her sports marketing firm's trademark theatrical flair -- to the already crowded field of Republicans seeking to challenge Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd. Suffering from a job approval slump tied to questions about his oversight of the financial industry as chairman of the Banking Committee, Dodd is more vulnerable than at any previous point in his Senate career.
McMahon, who stepped down from her CEO post to run, released a statement Wednesday touting her business experience as a key qualification for the seat. "I have spent the past 30 years growing what began as a 13-employee small business into a publicly traded, global entertainment company," she said. "I understand what it takes to balance a budget, create jobs and grow the economy."
She has run the company with her husband, Vince McMahon, a showman who long has been the public face of pro wrestling and its flamboyant mixture of sports and theater.
McMahon has been a strong campaign backer of popular Connecticut Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who is up for re-election in 2010 and has remained neutral on the Senate contest as the field takes shape. Rell earlier this year nominated McMahon to her current position on the state Board of Education, a role that is the longtime businesswoman's first venture into the public sector.
McMahon spokesman Ed Patru said that while Rell and McMahon are friends, it is too early to speculate about a possible endorsement.
McMahon indicated she is prepared to personally finance her campaign, and she plans to make that part of the argument for her candidacy -- that she will have the resources to take on and beat Dodd in a campaign that is expected to cost between $30 and $50 million. McMahon is the second wealthy and well-funded candidate in the Republican field , joining Tom Foley, a businessman and Republican fundraiser who is a former ambassador to Ireland.
A third, financial analyst Peter Schiff, is waiting in the wings. Schiff, who has libertarian political views, has not made a final decision about the campaign, but has already raised more than $1 million with the help of some of the activists who raised millions for Texas Rep. Ron Paul's dark-horse bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. He is expected to announce a decision about his campaign within days.
The unexpected flood of upscale competitors is complicating the prospects for former three-term Rep. Rob Simmons, the GOP establishment's pick.
Simmons has already sewn up endorsements from 30 of the 72 regular members of the state Republican Party's governing body. He also has a big early edge in polls of primary voters, though he has been benefitting so far from the fact that he is much better known than his opponents among voters across the state. Simmons won the 2nd District seat in eastern Connecticut in 2000 and held it until he lost narrowly to Democrat Joe Courtney in 2006.
State Sen. Sam Caligiuri also is competing for the Republican nod.
Democrats likely will see the prospect of a fiercely contested and expensive Republican primary -- to be held in August 2010, less than three months before the general election -- as a positive development that could give Dodd time to rebuild his support base while the Republican hopefuls are battering each other.
CQ Politics rates the general election contest as Tossup.
To see how all of the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.
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