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Although lawmakers wanted information on what is wrong with New England's aging electric power grid, they heard from a Connecticut utility Thursday about what that utility is doing right. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said he called for the hearing because of the electricity outages in New England last year caused by bad weather and an emerging pattern in the United States of more frequent and stronger storms. "We know that there will be another storm that will knock down our power lines," Bingaman said. Introduced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to...

The Talking Points Memo headline reads: “Dems Warn Of ‘Grave Damage’ To SCOTUS If ‘Obamacare’ Is Struck Down.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), a former attorney general of Connecticut, pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court would damage itself if it did something so ridiculous as find Obamacare unconstitutional: "The court commands no armies, it has no money; it depends for its power on its credibility. The only reason people obey it is because it has that credibility. And the court risks grave damage if it strikes down a statute of this magnitude and importance, and stretches so dramatically and drastically...

Hoping to stir public outrage against a rival, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are brawling over who is responsible for the most "earmarks," special projects inserted into spending bills. While the presidential hopefuls portray earmarks as a corrupting influence on politics and a waste of taxpayer funds, Connecticut lawmakers, among others, are taking a different view. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, calls earmarks "the most misunderstood thing in Congress." "There's a difference between a 'bridge to nowhere' and funding for the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum," he said. The "bridge to nowhere" was a project in a remote corner of Alaska that...

The union representing 2,000 commercial office cleaners in the greater Hartford and New Haven areas has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. The four-year deal, reached late Wednesday after several top political leaders weighed in, averts a strike. "This agreement will help 2,000 hard-working men and women better support their families, which will contribute to our state's future economic growth,'' said Kurt Westby, Connecticut state director for the union, 32BJ of the Service Employees Bargaining Unit. Under the terms of the agreement, the workers will receive a raise in each of the next four years. The current hourly...

In the last election cycle, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon spent $50 million of her own fortune in an unsuccessful quest to fill Connecticut's vacant U.S. Senate seat, losing badly to her Democratic opponent, Richard Blumenthal. With the lessons of being a novice candidate behind her, McMahon is back for Round 2, poised to enter the 2012 race to succeed retiring four-term Sen. Joe Lieberman. A source close to McMahon’s future campaign confirmed to RealClearPolitics that the Republican hopeful will make her candidacy official in the next two weeks. (News of her plans was first reported by The...

Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Jeffery Butler, president and COO of Connecticut Light & Power on Friday urging the company to use whatever means necessary to restore power to the remaining customers left in the dark after Tropical Storm Irene. "As I traveled the state this week meeting with state officials, first responders, mayors, residents and small business owners, I've heard loud and clear the concern that your company did not do enough to prepare or respond, and is not doing enough work now to restore power. I share these concerns. Among the most common complaints are your...

HARTFORD —— Until Tuesday afternoon, the future was looking grim for Mariano Cardoso Jr. Brought to this country illegally by his parents when he was a baby, the 23-year-old Capital Community College student was facing imminent deportation to Mexico, a country he did not know. But while at school Tuesday, Cardoso got a call from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, telling him that federal immigration officials had granted a rare stay of deportation and that in all probability he will be able to remain in the U.S. indefinitely.

Until Tuesday afternoon, the future was looking grim for Mariano Cardoso Jr. Brought to this country illegally by his parents when he was a baby, the 23-year-old Capital Community College student was facing imminent deportation to Mexico, a country he did not know. But while at school Tuesday, Cardoso got a call from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, telling him that federal immigration officials had granted a rare stay of deportation and that in all probability he will be able to remain in the U.S. indefinitely Professors, fellow students and immigration activists were the first to come to his aid, launching...

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban menthol-flavored cigarettes. In a letter addressed Monday to the FDA, Blumenthal said the agency should ban menthol cigarettes because they encourage young people to smoke. “The dangers of menthol tobacco products in general, and to our youth in particular, are highly concerning, and provide abundant grounds for FDA to develop a plan that will result in the removal of menthol from tobacco products to protect public health,” Blumenthal wrote in the letter, addressed to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. Blumenthal is seeking a ban identical to...

Sen. Dick Blumenthal has a really, really bad habit of making up outlandish lies. Problem is he is also really, really bad at getting by unscathed. First, Blumenthal said he was a veteran in Vietnam, when in fact that was a lie. Now, Yid With Lid caught another flab and promptly corrects this outright fabrication of the truth from a presser on abortion rights. Blumenthal states: I’m new to the Senate but I’m not new to this battle. Since the days of Roe v. Wade, when I clerked for Justice Blackman, as a state legislator, as attorney general, I have...

We have to stop excusing these kind of “misstatements” and then maybe we should consider using the term “The Chicago Way” and changing it to “The Connecticut Way”. Progress. The bigger story here is the threat. After all it comes just one day after staff members from Connecticut’s new Democrat Governor admitted to making public, private license plate information on outgoing Republican Governor Jodi Rell. But I digress. Senator “I served in Vietnam” Blumenthal holds his first press conference as a Senator (that didn’t take long) to vow he would fight against HR 3, which would prohibit federal funding of...

Senator “I served in Vietnam” Blumenthal holds his first press conference as a Senator (that didn’t take long) to vow he would fight against HR 3, which would prohibit federal funding of abortion. But instead of letting the subject matter stand on its own and making his position as a “defender of women’s health” … he once again finds the need to embelish. “I’m new to the Senate but I’m not new to this battle,” Blumenthal said at a Capitol Hill news conference, his first since taking office. “Since the days of Roe v. Wade, when I clerked for Justice...

Just heard it a minute ago.

Dick Blumenthal is worried his voters are not showing up and has sent out a last minute get out and vote Email to his supporters.

Low supporter turnout for Richard Blumenthal has forced the campaign to send out an alert Tuesday afternoon urging supporters to get out to the polls. “Voter turnout appears to be heavy in areas that benefit our opponent,” The campaign email read".” It is critical that we maximize our efforts to get our supporters to the polls. We need your help” Blumenthal is running against Linda McMahon in a highly publicized campaign for US Senate in Connecticut. The Real Clear Politics average of all national pulling has Blumenthal leading McMahon by 9 points, however that lead has been shrinking in recent...

They roared as “Triple H” — U.S. Senate hopeful Linda McMahon’s son-in-law — pounded his opponent in the ring. They cheered as her husband Vince urged them to wear their World Wrestling Entertainment T-shirts to the polls on Tuesday. They whooped and hollered for the busty “Divas” who stomped their rival hussies. Then the diehards of World Wrestling nation filed out of the arena—some of them, at least, promising to vote for the candidate herself on Tuesday. The wrasslin’ and unstated politickin’ took center stage Saturday, just three days before Election Day, at the Hartford XL Center. Saturday’s World Wrestling...

On the election stump for Dick Blumenthal today in Bridgeport, Conn., President Obama lost control of a portion of his audience for three minutes. It’s not surprising folks show up and disrupt events, but what is surprising is his response to the Global AIDS Alliance protesters. Well, maybe not so much. Obama identified the group of “young people” making a ruckus as representatives from Global AIDS, which I assume is the Global AIDS Alliance. His response to their interruption was to suggest they go protest at the other guy’s events because “we’re funding Global AIDS and the other side is...

GREENWICH, CONN. IT has been said that American politics and professional wres tling share a paucity of honest emotions. But Linda McMahon, who as CEO built World Wrestling Entertainment into a billion-dollar company, might think comparing wrestling to politics insults wrestling. As she seeks the Senate seat being vacated by Chris Dodd, she says the honesty deficit concerns not emotions but facts. Her Democratic opponent, Richard Blumenthal, who served six years in the Legislature, has been Connecticut's attorney general for 20 years, so he knows how to parse sentences. Yet his penchant for (to be polite) tactical imprecision goes beyond...

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal again holds a double-digit lead over Republican opponent Linda McMahon in Connecticut’s U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Connecticut shows the longtime Democratic state official with 56% support, his best showing since early June. McMahon claims 43%of the vote. One percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and another one percent (1%) are undecided. Less than two weeks ago after the candidates’ second televised debate, Blumenthal posted a much narrower 51% to 46% lead. But the new findings shift this race from Leans Democrat to Solid Democrat in the...

Dick Blumenthal has tried to cast himself as a white knight in the Countrywide Mortgage scandal that forced Chris Dodd into retirement after the exposure of his sweetheart mortgage deals under the “Friends of Angelo” program at Countrywide. Blumenthal points to his $8.6 billion settlement with Bank of America over the mortgage giant’s remaining loans, one that supposedly “won’t cost taxpayers a dime,” as an example of his beneficial work for Connecticut voters and his ability to get tough with fraudsters. Linda McMahon takes aim at this argument with her new ad released yesterday titled “Taking Care,” which alleges that...

No low is too low for a guy who falsely claimed to have served in combat during the Vietnam war… (Politico)- A source this morning forwards on an e-mail this morning from inside Attorney General Dick Blumenthal’s campaign for Senate, in which his aides discuss tarring Linda McMahon in cooperation with Planned Parenthood. The e-mail’s subject line is: “Worst of WWE + women photos.” “Hey all — Grossman is looking for mysoginistic photos of women and WWE. Planned Parenthood wants to hit LM hard on it,” press staffer Marcy Stech e-mailed seven other aides to the campaign and the State...

STAMFORD, Conn. – The right for World Wrestling Entertainment fans to vote was threatened Friday by Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, who gave the authority to local poll workers to determine that if anyone shows up to the polls on November 2 wearing any WWE merchandise, whether it is a John Cena T-shirt or a Randy Orton wristband, they may be forced to go home and change, cover it up, or take it off in order to vote. “Denying our fans the right to vote, denying them their First Amendment rights, regardless if they are Democrat, Republican or Independent,...

Blue-state Connecticut has undergone a jolting metamorphosis over the past three years, with potential ramifications for the Senate contest between Linda McMahon and Richard Blumenthal. Many residents have become a lot more like red-state Texans than blue-state New Englanders. Now, they're enthusiastic supporters of the death penalty and are fond of handguns and shotguns. It's all due to a horrific home invasion in 2007 in the affluent town of Cheshire, a New Haven suburb. Chilling details of the "Cheshire Murders," as they're known, have played out in a New Haven courtroom this fall during the first of two trials. Now,...

Blumenthal (aka Heydrich jr.) didn't embellish his Vietnam War service. He fabricated having served. Newsweek have you no shame, no sense of decency?

Last night’s third and last debate between Linda McMahon and Richard Blumenthal last night at the Gard Theater in New London. As the hour went, it became a verbal wrestling match. Ms. McMahon took Mr. Blumenthal on for his claims that voters both know and trust him. Mr. Blumenthal cited a list of dead wrestlers in the WWE. Overall it looked like Mr. Blumenthal was just simply was not organized to handle the questions. On the other hand, Ms. McMahon from the start of the debate was very organized and ready to debate Mr. Blumenthal and very much came prepared...

The subheading on this one should be “Shhhhhhhhhhhh”. Feisty crowd, feisty McMahon and a Blumenthal who pretty much put me to sleep. But there were some classic moments, as you’ll see. I’ll have another post later but here’s a quick recap. Right out of the gate Blumenthal was asked one more time about how jobs were created. A little more lucid this time but government is still the answer. McMahon’s retort, and I’m paraphrasing … nice to know you’ve been working on your answer Mr Blumenthal. But I think the best was saved for last. As you’ll hear Blumenthal lights...

There is an old adage that goes something like this: It’s better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re stupid than to open your mouth and prove them right. Thankfully for America not all Democrats are paying that adage much heed, and just in time for the election. Last week Linda McMahon, the GOP candidate for US Senate from Connecticut did the voters of her state a great service. She asked Richard Blumenthal, her Democrat opponent, a simple question: “How do you create a job?” His answer, if you can call it that, was a minute and...

Dick Blumenthal - Mr. Teen USA 2010

Producing an effective campaign ad usually takes lots of time and creativity, but sometimes a political opponent will do the heavy lifting for you. That was the case this week in Connecticut's US Senate race between Republican Linda McMahon and Democrat Richard Blumenthal. The latest ad from the McMahon camp shows a clip of last Thursday's debate in which Mr. Blumenthal pitifully tries to answer the very simple question, "How do you create a job?"

To cleanse the palate, not one, not two, but three tasty campaign ads via Jim Geraghty, the Family Research Council, and Ben Smith, respectively. If you read this post a few days ago, you already know the full background on the Blumenthal spot; the only thing I’d change here is maybe tacking this immortal clip from one of my all-time favorite movies onto the end. As for the second ad, there’s not much to say except that it’s exactly, but exactly, the sort of thing I had in mind the other day when I said that O’Donnell should try humor...

The Post today endorses Republican Linda McMahon for the US Senate in Connecticut. If she wins -- and polls suggest she is closing in fast on her Democratic opponent -- this would be a major pick-up for the GOP, which hasn't won a Senate race in the Nutmeg State since 1982. By all rights, McMahon would seem to be the ideal political neophyte seeking office: Well-spoken, intelligent and CEO of one of the state's largest and most successful businesses, which has brought 600 jobs to Connecticut. The problem is that her business is professional wrestling -- immensely popular, to be...

Dick Blumenthal tries to fight off his shakes during his debate with Linda McMahon. (VIDEO) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8yf1MCOsP0

Not the only sign of the great divide between the people and the power, but one of the best. Hey small business, I’m on your side even if I don’t know a thing about what you do. Two sound bites for your viewing pleasure. The first, McMahon asks Blumenthal if he knows how to create a job. His answer, tax credits and law suits, what else? She challenges him and he responds with an answer that only be described as arrogant. Entrepreneurs … I ain’t going to DC to be an entrepreneur.

Contrary to a previous IBD prediction, Connecticut GOP Senate candidate Linda McMahon did not catch Democrat Richard Blumenthal by late September. While a Quinnipiac poll last week showed the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) narrowing the state Attorney General’s lead to three points, three new polls give Blumenthal leads of 7, 10 and 12. Worse for McMahon, Blumenthal is polling above 50% in all three. McMahon has been hitting Blumenthal in recent weeks for distorting his Vietnam record. That may be backfiring. These polls are a blow for Republican hopes to retake the Senate.

Dick Blumenthal Stumped On How To Create A Job

Republican Connecticut Senate nominee Linda McMahon's campaign released a new ad today that slams Democratic opponent Richard Blumenthal for misrepresenting his military service during the Vietnam War. The ad seeks to revive doubts about the Connecticut attorney general's credibility that have festered since the New York Times revealed in May that Blumenthal claimed repeatedly that he served in Vietnam when he actually received five deferments and served stateside in the Marine Reserve. The ad comes hours before the candidates are slated to meet in their first debate at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford. Fox News Channel...

From last night's debate.

Raleigh, N.C. – Contrary to polls in the last week showing Linda McMahon closing to a single-digit deficit behind Richard Blumenthal in the Connecticut Senate race, PPP’s first measure of the race since January shows the Democrat still well ahead, though not by the 20-point-plus edge he had had in the spring. The state’s popular Democratic Attorney General leads the Republican WWE executive, 53-41, among likely voters.

With less than a month until Election Day and hours before their first debate, Connecticut's Republican candidate for the US Senate Linda McMahon's campaign has released a scathing new ad attacking her Democratic opponent Richard Blumenthal's lies about serving in Vietnam. While this issue may be old news to political junkies who were paying attention when the story first broke in May, video in the new ad of Mr. Blumenthal claiming he served in Vietnam when the truth is he did not will most like be seen for the first time by many Connecticut voters.

Tonight's Connecticut Senate debate between Richard Blumenthal (D) and Linda McMahon (R) will be aired locally on WTIC "Fox 61", 7:00pm ET (1 hour). Fox News anchor Bret Baier will moderate the debate. Info: Senate Debate Tonight On Fox CT It appears that C-SPAN will also air the debate nationwide, although C-SPAN's website isn't giving out a lot of information about it at this time:Connecticut Senate Debate on C-SPAN You may want to check C-SPAN's TV Schedule later today to see if they are airing the CT debate.

Democratic strategists have recently started experiencing a new feeling of optimism. There are indications, they say, that the party is showing the smallest signs of a turnaround, and that rumors of their electoral demise have been premature. But instead of a comeback, Democrats are only experiencing the benefits of a base that is finally engaging. That base will help some Democratic candidates, but in total, the party still faces serious rehabilitation work with independent voters. The party's major problems are most evident in three prominent races that are slowly, but inexorably, sliding toward Republicans. This week, Democrats confirmed what many...

Republican Linda McMahon and Democrat Richard Blumenthal are virtually tied in the Connecticut Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday. McMahon trails Blumenthal, 46 percent to 49 percent — a 3-point difference that is within the poll’s margin of error. Only 4 percent of voters surveyed reported they were still undecided. Blumenthal was considered a shoo-in for the open Connecticut Senate race earlier this year because of his high marks from voters as the state’s five-term attorney general. Blumenthal still has a high approval rating — 68 percent in the poll — but he is quickly losing...

Propelled by Connecticut likely voters who say they are "angry" with government, former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, is closing in on Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democrat, and now trails just 49 - 46 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This compares to a 51 - 45 percent Blumenthal lead in a September 14 likely voter survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll, conducted by live interviewers. In today's survey, 4 percent are undecided and 9 percent of voters who name a candidate say they could change their mind by Election...

In the race for retiring Democratic Senator Chris Dodd's seat in Connecticut, Republican Linda McMahon has cut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's lead to just three points in the latest poll from Quinnipiac University. Blumenthal leads 49-46 in the poll of 1,083 likely Connecticut voters. The Quinnipiac poll comes a day after Rasmussen Reports released a poll showing Blumenthal leading McMahon by five points, 50-45. McMahon, who has spent upwards of $20 million of her own money on the contest thus far, has steadily climbed back into the race, narrowing Blumenthal's lead to 10 points in early August and again to...

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal demanded today that GMAC/Ally Finance Inc. halt all foreclosures in the state, saying the company has been filing defective foreclosure documents in Connecticut.

Rasmussen’s latest poll on the Connecticut Senate race gives us the “Tale of the Tape”. Linda McMahon continues to close the gap on the “golden boy”. More telling for crown prince Blumenthal, the leaners are breaking for McMahon. Momentum! Understand the gap is still big enough, and Blumenthal is still at 50% but even that is down from 51%. A long time political friend of mine once told me when a candidate falls below 50% he’s in trouble. When he drops below 45, he’s toast.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Former President Bill Clinton rallied the Democratic faithful in New England on Sunday, urging them to support his longtime friend and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut and persuade their neighbors not to give in to their anger toward the economy and incumbents. He also made stops in Maine and Massachusetts, appearing with candidates for governor and other offices. "Any time in life you make a really important decision when you're mad, there's about an 80 percent chance you'll make a mistake," Clinton told a crowd in New Haven, Conn., estimated by Blumenthal's campaign to...

You could spend your life around political campaigns and never see a celebration quite like the one Linda McMahon held last month after Connecticut Republicans made her their Senate candidate in a three-way primary. McMahon is the fabulously wealthy founder (along with her high-school sweetheart and husband, Vince) of World Wrestling Entertainment, a company the McMahons transformed into a sort of Disney for the age of postindustrial American... --snip-- As recently as 1982, Democrats in Connecticut made up 40 percent of the electorate, with Republicans making up about 27 percent and unaffiliated voters another third. By 2010, Democrats actually slipped...

Well, it is, just not how the President imagines it. Obama campaigned in Connecticut last night to raise funds from Connecticut’s “wealthy” for Democrat candidate Dick Blumenthal. With a 70% like-ability factor in the state, it should be a layup but its not. But a “no brainer” it is.

Connecticut Senate: A Slow, Steady Move to Toss Up September 16, 2010 The contest between Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon has been gradually closing over the past few months, and is now in single digits, according to some polls. A Quinnipiac University poll (September 8-12 of 875 likely voters) gave Blumenthal a six-point lead over McMahon, 51 percent to 45 percent. They were statistically tied among independents, with Blumenthal taking 47 percent to 46 percent for McMahon, and among men where McMahon had a one-point advantage, 48 percent to 47 percent. Blumenthal...