Linda McMahon Spends Record $100M in 2 Races

Linda McMahon is bound and determined to be a senator from Connecticut, so much so that the New York Times points out today she has spent nearly $100 million of her own fortune in the quest over three years. The money is about evenly split between her losing 2010 race and this race's contest for an open seat with Democrat Chris Murphy. The sum blows away the previous record long held by Ross Perot, who spent $72 million of his own money on presidential races in 1992 and 1996.

McMahon fends off criticism that she's trying to buy the seat with a defense that she won't owe favors to special interests if she wins. Whether the former wrestling exec can do that is still a dicey prospect: A recent Quinnipiac poll had Murphy up 49-43, reports the Hartford Courant. President Obama, meanwhile, is making a personal appeal for Murphy, notes Politico. On top of all that, both sides enter the final stretch worried about the effects of superstorm Sandy: McMahon because it could blunt her advertising, and Murphy because the storm hit Democratic areas. (More Linda McMahon stories.)