Linda McMahon, 2012 Senate Candidate, Wins Connecticut Bid In Race To Replace Joe Lieberman

Linda McMahon, the wife of WWE Chaiman and CEO Vince McMahon, has won another Connecticut senate bid in the race to replace retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman.

McMahon, a former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, failed in 2010 to win a Connecticut Senate seat, but has won the Republican primary and will go on to face Democratic Rep. Christopher S. Murphy.

The 63-year-old resident of Greenwich, Connecticut is said to have spent around $12 million of her own money on the campaign leading up to her defeat of Rep. Chris Shays. The large amount of money seems quite small when compared to the reported $50 million she spent on the 2010 Senate bid.

While the current race is a highly publicized and extremely important one, much of the attention is due to the fact that the Connecticut Senate seat has been held by Democrat-turned-independent Lieberman since 1988.

Lieberman's long stint come to a somewhat negative close as he has recently infuriated liberals and conservatives alike for constantly positioning himself at the center of key issues.

Furthermore, in October 2010, 66 percent of voters said that they would cast their ballot for someone who votes more consistently with one party or the other, unlike Lieberman.

The unfavorable senator's retirement gives McMahon an opportunity to bounce back from her 2010 loss. The candidates are now set to square off in a race that people are calling murphy the favorite in, but still saying it will be close.

A poll conducted in late July by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found Murphy with an eight-percentage-point lead over McMahon, 50% to 42%. A Quinnipiac poll conducted in late May and early June had the race even closer -- 46% to 43% in Murphy's favor.

Despite a Republican streak of Republican victories in 2010, McMahon lost her previous bid after Democrats attacked her ties to the wrestling entertainment industry - a strategy that appears prevalent this year as well.

In light of McMahon's victory Tuesday night, Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fired off an email declaring McMahon a "greedy CEO who made millions marketing sex and violence to little kids," the Los Angeles Times reports.