If you live in Connecticut, are registered as a Republican, or watch television, or listen to the radio, you probably have already heard from Linda McMahon, formerly of the often investigated, never indicted, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

Ms. McMahon is the latest person to enter the Dump Dodd Sweepstakes running for the nomination to face him as a Republican. Interesting choice of parties. For those of you who don't know her here is a little bit from the WWE website: Linda E. McMahon is Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in Stamford, Conn. She also serves on the company's Board of Directors. Her husband, Vincent K. McMahon, is Chairman of the company's Board of Directors.

Starting as a regional company in 1982, the McMahons used their business savvy to turn WWE into a global leader in media and entertainment with annual revenues of nearly $500 million. Mrs. McMahon has been widely recognized as one of the entertainment industry's top female executives, both for her business acumen and her support of a variety of community-based initiatives.

Of course it wasn't always WWE. Until just a few years ago it was the WWF - World Wrestling Federation, but the World Wildlife Fund successfully sued over its claim that the McMahons' WWF had usurped the furry critters' WWF acronym. As a result of the other WWF's lawsuit, the McMahon's had to change their corporate name.

With that little bit of unpleasantness behind them, as well as a cooling down of the sports (entertainment) world's steroid inquisition, Ms. McMahon has decided, as have a growing number of wannabes and hangers on, that she wants to be the next US Senator from Connecticut, seeking to send career Senator Chris Dodd into retirement.

Working in her favor are two points: first, she has actually run a business and had to make enough money to supply a regular payroll - a factor that no longer seems to be an issue; and, second, she has a certain level of name recognition, although that is not always a good thing.

What do I mean by that? Well, take a look at what the Democrats already have had to say about Ms. McMahon's candidacy on You Tube. (Well the Democrats aren't actually jumping up and taking credit for this video, but frankly, who else?)



So far, there have only been a little more than 6,000 views of this video but I'm sure that number will go up quickly once the word gets around. Judging from the initial comments it is a good bet that not only did the Democrats put the video together, but that they are "priming the pump" with anti-Republican commentary too.

But it isn't Ms. McMahon's showmanship that bothers me as much as it is the taint of scandal that hovers over the McMahon's World Wrestling empire. The performers who put a human face on the soap opera-like "wrestling matches" have long been suspected of abusing steroids, human growth hormones and possibly other drugs that give them their muscular definition and size.

The McMahon's have never been charged with distributing or even supporting the use of steroids - in fact wrestler Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, testified during the steroid scandals of the early 1990s that Vince McMahon had advised against the use of steroids. But drug scandals have continued to plague World Wrestling, the worst of which was when star Chris Benoit killed his family and himself in what many experts said was a "roid rage" incident in 2007.

Vince McMahon himself made the announcement to wrestling fans that Benoit, along with his wife and his son, had been found dead at their suburban Atlanta home. Police determined that the deaths were murder-suicide; Police said Benoit strangled his wife and smothered his 7-year-old son, leaving a Bible by both their bodies. He then hanged himself on Monday, 25 June 2007, police said.

Although the WWE staunchly denounced any suggestion that steroids were involved in the tragedy, CNN reported that synthetic steroids of the kind used in muscle building were found in the Benoit home. Also, on June 29, 2007, CNN reported, "The WWE said Benoit tested negative for drugs during an independently administered evaluation on April 10.

CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said Wednesday that it may never be known whether the deaths were linked to steroids or so-called "roid-rage."

"The drugs said to be found in the home are a synthetic form of testosterone," Gupta said. "A lot of people use it to build muscle mass, but there are longstanding known relationships between the steroids and roid rage. It could lead to psychosis and anti-social behavior and depression."

Then we have the more recent problems associated with former WWE star Kurt Angle, who really was an Olympic Wrestling champion before he went pro. Angle was arrested in August of this year after a dispute with a live-in girlfriend.

News reports said that police pulled him over and found a syringe and human growth hormone in his car. Angle said he has a prescription for the drugs and takes them for a recurring neck injury, and a judge cleared him of the drug possession charges earlier this month. But that still didn't do anything for the WWE's image or the suspicion that drugs are as regular a part of the WWE life as are the scantily clad women "wrestlers" and the violence prone themes.

But even all the issues with Ms. McMahon's entertainment empire don't give me as much distress as her previous involvement in the political arena. I'm not talking about running for public office, I'm talking about where she spends the vast amounts of money she has earmarked for gaining political leverage.

She has given limited amounts - I'm sure she'll say "thousands" if asked about it - to a smattering of Republican candidates and causes, but she has given huge amounts to Democrats. Want to see why I'm saying this?

Take a look at what I found at this website - www.opensecrets.org just by entering Linda McMahon's name and the year 2006.

MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WWE INC./CEO 9/25/06 $1,500 Its My Party Too PAC (R)

MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WWE INC/CEO 10/26/06 $1,000 Lieberman, Joe (I)

MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WWE INC/CEO 11/7/06 $1,000 Lieberman, Joe (I)

MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WWE INC./CEO 10/18/06 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)

MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WWE INC./CEO 11/23/05 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)

MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WWE INC./CEO 11/30/05 $1,000 Shays, Christopher (R)

MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WWE INC./CEO 6/7/06 $500 Johnson, Nancy L (R)

MCMAHON, LINDA
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WWE INC./CEO 9/8/06 $250 Republican Majority for Choice

MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT INC./ 9/29/06 $10,000 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)

MCMAHON, LINDA E
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT INC./ 5/22/06 $5,000 Forward Together PAC (D)

MCMAHON, VINCENT K
GREENWICH,CT 06831 WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT INC./ 5/22/06 $5,000 Forward Together PAC (D)

That's $7,250 to non-Democrats, most of it to former Congressman Chris Shays, with $2,000 of it going to independent Democrat Joe Lieberman. Meanwhile, she found $15,000 for Democratic candidates with her husband throwing in another $5,000. Oh, and this year she gave two grand to the state Republicans.

Nice touch, but what does that say to Connecticut's Republicans?

There already is enough drama surrounding the race for the GOP nomination to select a candidate to challenge Dodd. There already is enough controversy with news reports showing that except for Rob Simmons most of the declared GOP candidates don't even vote!

Now we have political drama turning into a circus. Frankly, I don't like it. It doesn't bother me that there are lots of people who want to run against Dodd, and I have always favored letting the system work out who should get the nomination. If a candidate doesn't get the nomination at the convention, there still is the opportunity to primary.

Linda McMahon certainly has plenty of her own money to go as far within the system, or outside of it, as she wants. But we have a Congress that is so completely out of touch with reality that there are national level campaigns gaining steam to throw out the entire House of Representatives next year, as well as the 33 Senators who are up for reelection.

We have a country that is being pulled apart at the seams, and we need people in Congress who not only know and understand the job, but also know who they are and what they believe. A quick glance at Linda McMahon's donation history does not give me a sense of continuity or trust in her judgment. She even spoke to college Democrats at the Democratic convention in 2004. And now she wants to be a Republican?

What I see, is a candidate who apparently doesn't know the difference between story lines developed for her performers and the very real-life issues that face the wrestlers and all Americans outside of the ring. I do agree with one thing in Ms. McMahon's commercial though; It is time for something different in Washington.

But another circus is not different. It's still a circus, it just has different clowns.