With less than a day before the polls open, candidates for US Senate made their way to events across the state. WNPR's Jeff Cohen caught up with them. He says he's a congressman with experience, she says she's a businesswoman and a job creator. She says his record stinks, he says she's trying to buy a senate seat.
As the election looms, Democratic Congressman Chris Murphy and Republican Linda McMahon spent the day in stops across the state getting their messages out one last time. Part of that final push for McMahon has been to reach out to independent voters. In one recent ad, she encourages people to vote both for her and for President Barack Obama. In another, she gives a nod to an icon of the left -- President John F. Kennedy.
At a restaurant in Middletown, Murphy tried to remind people that his opponent is in fact a Republican. "No matter how many times she puts her name next to President Obama's name or her face next to John F. Kennedy's face, it doesn't stop the fact that she's going to go to Washington to be the 51st vote for a very destructive Tea Party Republican agenda that doesn't have Connecticut's interest in mind." Murphy said the election is about the people in the middle.
"Linda McMahon wants this nation to invest in people like her and trust that money will find its way down to the rest of the economy. I believe in investing in the middle class." Independent polls have McMahon, a former wrestling executive, losing some ground, but she says the race is a dead heat.
At a stop at a campaign office in Cromwell, McMahon said she feels good about the election. "There's a bright-line difference between Congressman Murphy and me and that is that I come from the private sector. I've created jobs. And I know the impact of taxes and regulations on jobs and businesses and I want to get our economy turned around and get people back to work." And she says Murphy is a failed politician. "He talks about his record and I've just said I don't like his record. I don't like the fact that we have higher unemployment, gas prices are higher, food prices are higher, home values are down, and wages are lower. So I don't like that record. I think we need a new one." Voters will have their say tomorrow.
