Female Candidate Finds a Tough Audience: Women
HARTFORD - Every time Dolores Meehan turns on her television, there she is: Linda E. McMahon, attacking her opponent, in yet another political advertisement.
“She’s bothering people,” said Ms. Meehan, a retired telephone company worker from Norwalk. “There are about 10 to 12 ads in an hour. If you’re watching a show, it’s too much.”
Liz Costas, 51, owner of Katie’s Gourmet in downtown Stamford, is also tired of the relentlessness of Ms. McMahon’s campaign.
“She’s got a billboard the size of my car right outside my house,” Ms. Costas said.
With Election Day about three weeks away, Ms. McMahon, the Republican nominee for Connecticut’s open Senate seat and a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, faces this major obstacle in her quest for the seat: Many female voters are turned off by her campaign.
A CNN/Time poll last week showed the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, with a nearly two-to-one advantage among female voters, and Ms. McMahon’s campaign is struggling to find ways to connect with women.
Interviews with nearly three dozen women around the state reveal that many are troubled by what they see as the harshness of the attacks Ms. McMahon has leveled at Mr. Blumenthal, the wall-to-wall advertising she is underwriting with tens of millions of dollars, and her role in the wrestling industry, with its cartoonish and demeaning depictions of women.
Stacey Smith, 32, a manager at a nonprofit organization in Stamford, said she found it hard to take Ms. McMahon seriously after viewing a widely circulated video of her performing in a raucous W.W.E. skit.
“How can you claim to be a political figure when you are on stage wrestling with your own daughter?” Ms. Smith said.
“She turns me off,” she added. “I think she is totally buying the seat.”
The CNN/Time poll showed that Mr. Blumenthal owes his lead in the race to his support among women. While the race is tied among male voters, women favor him 61 percent to 34 percent. Over all, among likely voters, Mr. Blumenthal is backed by 54 percent, and Ms. McMahon is supported by 41 percent.
Men often praise Ms. McMahon’s business acumen and some show up at her campaign events, eager to talk to her about wrestling and to be photographed with her.
Ms. McMahon’s campaign is trying to soften her image to reach women. On the trail, she describes herself as a mother, grandmother and wife, and she addressed a recent appeal to “moms across Connecticut.”
She has flooded the airwaves with advertisements aimed directly at female voters. A radio spot first broadcast this week features Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a fellow Republican, describing Ms. McMahon as “a good person.” The campaign is also going after women through cable television advertisements, including one titled “She Has Lived It,” in which a parade of women of all ages and backgrounds offer testimonials on behalf of the candidate, who is shown cradling a baby, smiling at schoolchildren with backpacks and speaking with female workers.
In an earlier television commercial, she speaks directly to the issue nagging at many women: her association with the wrestling industry. Two suburban-looking women are traveling in a sport utility vehicle debating Ms. McMahon’s candidacy. One woman says she likes what Ms. McMahon is saying.
“What about the wrestling stuff?” her friend asks.
“Not exactly my cup of tea,” the other woman responds.
Her friend then delivers the message Ms. McMahon hopes will break through: “Look, she tamed the traveling show world of professional wrestling, turned it into a global company, and created 500 jobs here in Connecticut.”
Some seem to have been swayed, saying their vote will not be influenced by Ms. McMahon’s association with W.W.E.
“That’s entertainment,” said Donna Candella, 39, a Democrat and lawyer who lives in Naugatuck. “It’s not a real sport. And those women choose to be there. They weren’t forced to be there.”
The Blumenthal campaign has been eager to seize on Ms. McMahon’s weakness among women, and much of the debate in recent weeks over issues like the racy and violent nature of W.W.E. programming has essentially been a battle for the loyalties of women, particularly mothers in suburbs across the state.
Recently, for example, Democrats recruited women to create an advocacy group, Mothers Opposing McMahon, whose mission is to spread “the truth about the brutal violence and abusive treatment of women that Linda McMahon marketed to our kids to make herself millions,” according to the group’s Facebook page.
The Blumenthal campaign has also portrayed him as a staunch advocate of women’s interests, noting that he used the attorney general’s office to help victims of domestic violence, lobby for equal pay for women and crack down on tobacco advertisements going after children.
But the interviews with female voters revealed uneasiness with Mr. Blumenthal, too, with many saying they felt they were choosing between two flawed candidates. And, tellingly, though women complained about Ms. McMahon’s ubiquitous advertising, many of the criticisms they offered of Mr. Blumenthal echoed her campaign spots, as in comments about his long tenure in government and his false claims to have served in Vietnam.
“He’s a career politician,” said Jen Stapinski, 32, an independent voter from Newtown, who said she was still undecided. “And politics as usual hasn’t been working.”
An irony of this race, said Douglas Schwartz, the director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, is that Ms. McMahon would be the first female senator in the state’s history if she were to prevail. But to do so, she must overcome the resistance to her among women.
The challenge she faces was clear at a recent breast cancer charity reception in the affluent village of Darien. Peter Bay, who works at a brokerage firm and was sipping white wine beneath a party tent, said he was impressed with Ms. McMahon.
“She’s uniquely qualified,” said Mr. Bay, a Republican and a resident of Darien. “She’s been so successful in her business.”
His wife was not persuaded. “Linda McMahon sort of bothers me,” Ellen Bay said, expressing concerns about Ms. McMahon’s reputation as a businesswoman who has laid off employees.
Suzanne Griffin, 60, manager of the Helen Ainson boutique, which was hosting the reception, said Ms. McMahon’s attacks on Mr. Blumenthal had been needlessly personal and caustic.
“I would’ve been much happier with McMahon,” she said, “if she had just told me about herself as a woman.”
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Source
As a female Nutmegger all I have to say is this: "No, Linda McMahon, we are NOT BFFs so stop sending me things, calling me and appearing on my TV."
“She’s bothering people,” said Ms. Meehan, a retired telephone company worker from Norwalk. “There are about 10 to 12 ads in an hour. If you’re watching a show, it’s too much.”
Liz Costas, 51, owner of Katie’s Gourmet in downtown Stamford, is also tired of the relentlessness of Ms. McMahon’s campaign.
“She’s got a billboard the size of my car right outside my house,” Ms. Costas said.
With Election Day about three weeks away, Ms. McMahon, the Republican nominee for Connecticut’s open Senate seat and a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, faces this major obstacle in her quest for the seat: Many female voters are turned off by her campaign.
A CNN/Time poll last week showed the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, with a nearly two-to-one advantage among female voters, and Ms. McMahon’s campaign is struggling to find ways to connect with women.
Interviews with nearly three dozen women around the state reveal that many are troubled by what they see as the harshness of the attacks Ms. McMahon has leveled at Mr. Blumenthal, the wall-to-wall advertising she is underwriting with tens of millions of dollars, and her role in the wrestling industry, with its cartoonish and demeaning depictions of women.
Stacey Smith, 32, a manager at a nonprofit organization in Stamford, said she found it hard to take Ms. McMahon seriously after viewing a widely circulated video of her performing in a raucous W.W.E. skit.
“How can you claim to be a political figure when you are on stage wrestling with your own daughter?” Ms. Smith said.
“She turns me off,” she added. “I think she is totally buying the seat.”
The CNN/Time poll showed that Mr. Blumenthal owes his lead in the race to his support among women. While the race is tied among male voters, women favor him 61 percent to 34 percent. Over all, among likely voters, Mr. Blumenthal is backed by 54 percent, and Ms. McMahon is supported by 41 percent.
Men often praise Ms. McMahon’s business acumen and some show up at her campaign events, eager to talk to her about wrestling and to be photographed with her.
Ms. McMahon’s campaign is trying to soften her image to reach women. On the trail, she describes herself as a mother, grandmother and wife, and she addressed a recent appeal to “moms across Connecticut.”
She has flooded the airwaves with advertisements aimed directly at female voters. A radio spot first broadcast this week features Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a fellow Republican, describing Ms. McMahon as “a good person.” The campaign is also going after women through cable television advertisements, including one titled “She Has Lived It,” in which a parade of women of all ages and backgrounds offer testimonials on behalf of the candidate, who is shown cradling a baby, smiling at schoolchildren with backpacks and speaking with female workers.
In an earlier television commercial, she speaks directly to the issue nagging at many women: her association with the wrestling industry. Two suburban-looking women are traveling in a sport utility vehicle debating Ms. McMahon’s candidacy. One woman says she likes what Ms. McMahon is saying.
“What about the wrestling stuff?” her friend asks.
“Not exactly my cup of tea,” the other woman responds.
Her friend then delivers the message Ms. McMahon hopes will break through: “Look, she tamed the traveling show world of professional wrestling, turned it into a global company, and created 500 jobs here in Connecticut.”
Some seem to have been swayed, saying their vote will not be influenced by Ms. McMahon’s association with W.W.E.
“That’s entertainment,” said Donna Candella, 39, a Democrat and lawyer who lives in Naugatuck. “It’s not a real sport. And those women choose to be there. They weren’t forced to be there.”
The Blumenthal campaign has been eager to seize on Ms. McMahon’s weakness among women, and much of the debate in recent weeks over issues like the racy and violent nature of W.W.E. programming has essentially been a battle for the loyalties of women, particularly mothers in suburbs across the state.
Recently, for example, Democrats recruited women to create an advocacy group, Mothers Opposing McMahon, whose mission is to spread “the truth about the brutal violence and abusive treatment of women that Linda McMahon marketed to our kids to make herself millions,” according to the group’s Facebook page.
The Blumenthal campaign has also portrayed him as a staunch advocate of women’s interests, noting that he used the attorney general’s office to help victims of domestic violence, lobby for equal pay for women and crack down on tobacco advertisements going after children.
But the interviews with female voters revealed uneasiness with Mr. Blumenthal, too, with many saying they felt they were choosing between two flawed candidates. And, tellingly, though women complained about Ms. McMahon’s ubiquitous advertising, many of the criticisms they offered of Mr. Blumenthal echoed her campaign spots, as in comments about his long tenure in government and his false claims to have served in Vietnam.
“He’s a career politician,” said Jen Stapinski, 32, an independent voter from Newtown, who said she was still undecided. “And politics as usual hasn’t been working.”
An irony of this race, said Douglas Schwartz, the director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, is that Ms. McMahon would be the first female senator in the state’s history if she were to prevail. But to do so, she must overcome the resistance to her among women.
The challenge she faces was clear at a recent breast cancer charity reception in the affluent village of Darien. Peter Bay, who works at a brokerage firm and was sipping white wine beneath a party tent, said he was impressed with Ms. McMahon.
“She’s uniquely qualified,” said Mr. Bay, a Republican and a resident of Darien. “She’s been so successful in her business.”
His wife was not persuaded. “Linda McMahon sort of bothers me,” Ellen Bay said, expressing concerns about Ms. McMahon’s reputation as a businesswoman who has laid off employees.
Suzanne Griffin, 60, manager of the Helen Ainson boutique, which was hosting the reception, said Ms. McMahon’s attacks on Mr. Blumenthal had been needlessly personal and caustic.
“I would’ve been much happier with McMahon,” she said, “if she had just told me about herself as a woman.”
----
Source
As a female Nutmegger all I have to say is this: "No, Linda McMahon, we are NOT BFFs so stop sending me things, calling me and appearing on my TV."