Thursday, September 17, 2009

Electionmania 2010!

Maybe you missed Friday Night Smackdown last week. Perhaps your subscription to WWE Monthly has lapsed. Do you know who Chris Jericho is? Maybe you just don't care. If that's the case, then you probably also missed the news that Linda McMahon is preparing to run for Senate in Connecticut. Chris Dodd is preparing for what could be a steel cage deathmatch.
Ms. McMahon is no relation to the late, great TV spokesperson and all-time best second banana Ed. She is the wife of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. She is also the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. They used to be the World Wrestling Federation, but a dustup with some animal-rights types made them change their name to avoid sharing an acronym with a panda.
That loss was a rare one for the global presence that has its roots in boxing promotion in the 1920s and emerged as big business in the early 1960s.
In what is already a crowded race, with GOP favorite former Representative Rob Simmons, former Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley, and state Senator Sam Caligiuiri as well as investment banker Peter Schiff, the Chairman's wife could mix things up still further. With Republican leanings but no clear party affiliation, Ms. McMahon has millions of her own dollars to pump into a campaign war chest. Aside from getting grown men to prance about in Speedos and hit each other with chairs, just exactly what are her qualifications?
If you answered: Those seem like very good credentials for serving in the United States Congress, then you're catching on. In an interview with the Kansas City Star, McMahon said that she will approach her job as a businesswoman, citing her success as CEO in creating new jobs. It was her and her husband that brought the synergy between MTV and the WWF(E). Imagine a world where Captain Lou Albano didn't appear in Cyndi Lauper's videos. It's that kind of forward thinking that can move mountains, or Andre the Giant. Remember, however, this is also the brain trust that created Jesse "The Body/Governor" Ventura who once remarked,"If you were to come to Minnesota, I could have you locked up like that. That's power." And that's showbiz.

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