McMahon’s Campaign Starts the Mudslinging Early

With Connecticut Senate candidates Linda McMahon (R) and Richard Blumenthal (D) set to debate tonight in Hartford, the McMahon campaign is throwing its jabs in advance. The Courant reports that McMahon’s camp is bragging it has a “troubling new video” of Blumenthal “lying about [his] military service”:

Campaign aide Shawn McCoy announced the news on Twitter tonight, less than 24 hours before the Blumenthal and Linda McMahon are set to square off in a high stakes debate in Hartford.

McCoy declined to release any details, saying only that the video is from a different venue — not the Norwalk event that it uncovered last spring, the one where Blumenthal stated he served in Vietnam, even though he didn’t.

As the Connecticut race has narrowed to a razor-thin margin, it’s gotten increasingly ugly. The McMahon campaign bragged openly when it first planted the “Blumenthal is lying about his Vietnam service” meme with The New York Times, potentially undermining the effect of the story. Since then, Democrats have struck back at McMahon, zeroing in on her time as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and highlighting media reports that five former WWE wrestlers have died premature deaths since she declared her candidacy. Whether the candidates raise the issues in Hartford tonight will be an indication of the kind of campaign they plan to run down the home stretch.