Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon hasn't been bashful about her efforts to attract independent voters. As WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, that strategy took a new turn today. McMahon clothed some of her campaign workers in purple shirts with a message: I support Obama and McMahon November 6.
A few weeks ago, McMahon released an ad encouraging people to vote both for her and for Democratic President Barack Obama. It irked even some people in her own party. Then, last week, she released her final ad that made reference to Democratic President John F. Kennedy.
Now, as she faces Democrat Chris Murphy, McMahon is paying campaign workers to stand at the polls and wear shirts that again make the point -- you can support her and the president at the same time. And she did it in the same purple color used by the labor union SEIU.
Dairon Wilkins says he's 17 years old. He's getting paid by the hour to stand in front of a Hartford polling place and wear one of the shirts. But, even if he could vote, he said he wouldn't vote for the woman who is paying him. Wilkins: If I could vote, it would come down to me not voting for her because she basically hasn't even put out any reasons.
Chris Murphy has reasons. Prenzina Holloway is standing nearby. She's a longtime Hartford Democrat, and she doesn't like McMahon's strategy. "Well, I call that pimping...When I say pimping, that means she is telling people to vote for Obama and then vote for her. To me, that's pimping...If she want to pay people and she want to pay these kids, then, you know, to think that we minority people is stupid, that's her problem." It should be noted that Holloway is a veteran of Democratic city politics, and has made her share of money off of the political system, too. And though she disagrees with McMahon's tactics, she says she's telling these kids to go get the money
