GOP Endorses Linda McMahon Over Shays by 2-1 Margin

Linda McMahon won the Republican endorsement for U.S. Senate tonight for the second time in two years, setting the stage for another August primary with another former congressman, Chris Shays.

McMahon, a World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder who spent $50 million on a losing Senate race in 2010, is vying with Shays for the rarest of political opportunities: a second shot at an open Senate seat.

Delegates gave 57 percent of the vote to McMahon and 31 percent to Shays on the first ballot. The rest of the field - Brian K. Hill, Peter Lumaj and Kie Westby - fell well short of the 15-percent threshold to automatically qualify for a primary.

At 10:23 p.m., ballot finished, but under the convention rules, delegates have a chance to switch votes before the count is finalized and McMahon is declared the endorsed candidate.

The winner of the primary will try to become the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in Connecticut since Lowell P. Weicker Jr. of Greenwich was elected in 1982 to his third and final term.

The seat is now held by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, who defeated Weicker in 1988 and is retiring after 24 years in the Senate.

In McMahon and Shays, GOP voters have to choose between two candidates with obvious strengths and weaknesses, each of whom were rejected by Connecticut voters in the past four years.

Shays, 66, who represented Stamford in the General Assembly and the 4th District in Congress, has built a campaign around one issue: electability. He points to a record of winning elections and polling that shows him best matching up with the endorsed Democrat, U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy.

"This time, we're going to be working as hard as we can to convince Republican voters that if you want someone who can win, and you don't want Chris Murphy, I think I'm your guy," Shays said.

McMahon, 63, of Greenwich, the former chief executive officer of the Stamford-based WWE, touts her record as a "jobs creator," echoing the pitch made at the top of the Republican ticket by Mitt Romney.

Her challenge is to convince voters that her 43 percent share of the vote in 2010 was base on which to build, not a ceiling. She lost by 12 percentage points to Democrat Richard Blumenthal, the state's most popular Democrat.

McMahon was nominated by four women, a target audience in her second run. Exit polling showed her suffering from a gender gap in 2010, and McMahon has made an effort to win over female voters.

Her nominators included Kathy McShane, the head of "Women for Linda" and Maureen Gagnon, who leads "Job Creators for McMahon." Another was Jayme Stevenson, the first selectwoman of Darien, where Shays grew up.

The winner will face the victor of a Democratic primary: either Murphy or former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.

source: ctmirror.org