Linda McMahon Campaign ad for the Connecticut Senate seat 2010

Linda McMahon is a Republican who ran against the Democrat Richard Blumenthal for the Connecticut Senate seat in 2010

I found this campaign video interesting as it didn’t put forward any of the views Linda McMahon has, instead it seems to be created just to discredit her opponent. It shows two women talking during a car journey, about how both candidates said that they wouldn’t take any money from special interests, yet Linda McMahon was true to her word but her opponent apparently lied and did take money although the advert shows no proof that he did. The ending is particularly interesting as it shows one of the women sarcastically saying that she was shocked that Richard Blumenthal lied and the other woman jokingly saying that she knew that she would be. This is to try and convince voters that he is a serial liar as opposed to Linda McMahon who is “true to her word.”The fact that there is no mention of Linda’s policies means that this advert isn’t focused on getting people to vote for Linda specifically, it is just trying to stop people voting for her opponent. The style of the advert seems almost childish, and makes it feel that Linda McMahon doesn’t think she can beat Richard Blumenthal on policies and instead will try and attack his character. This is a very different type of advert to what we are used to seeing in British politics.

Linda McMahon got only 43% of the vote compared to Richard Blumenthal’s 55%