Linda McMahon's wrestling empire urged young adults to vote in 2008, but the former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO didn't always follow suit.
McMahon, who has stepped down from her job to seek the Republican nomination in Connecticut for the U.S. Senate, acknowledged on her campaign blog that she didn't vote in the 2008 presidential primary after Sen. John McCain became the presumptive GOP nominee. In a Sept. 16 blog entry titled "One of My Regrets," McMahon, who co-founded WWE with her husband, Vince McMahon, said she also missed a general election in 2006 and several local elections.
"I talk all the time about how important it is for people to vote. And it is. Yet, I haven't always been the best example myself," she wrote. "I regret it, I apologize, and I don't make any excuses for it."
State records show McMahon voting twice in Connecticut, in the 2002 and 2008 general elections. During the 2008 presidential election, WWE organized a campaign called WWE's Smackdown Your Vote! and released a voter guide to help young voters "articulate the issues important to them in this national election." Then-U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as McCain, also appeared on WWE's "Monday Night RAW" and spoke to an audience of young voters.
Ed Patru, McMahon's campaign spokesman, said the former WWE executive's admission that she failed to vote shows she will be a different kind of candidate.
"People are tired of politicians in Washington who make mistakes and refuse to accept responsibility," he said. "That is not the kind of candidate that Linda is going to be. When she makes a mistake, she'll own up to it, take responsibility."
McMahon isn't the only Republican with a spotty voting record who is hoping to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd.
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Money manager Peter Schiff, a Connecticut native, didn't register to vote when he moved back to the state in 2004. He recently registered in Weston. State records show no evidence of him voting in Connecticut. Schiff, the president of brokerage Euro Pacific Capital based in Darien, Conn. who announced his candidacy on MSNBC, told the Hartford Courant that he voted while living in California. The Associated Press left a message on Tuesday with California election officials.
Schiff's brother, Andrew, a campaign spokesman, said Peter Schiff understands that not voting is "a serious issue." However, Andrew Schiff said voting is not the only way someone can be civic-minded. He cited Peter Schiff's frequent television appearances, in which he has spoken about economic and political issues. Schiff has often criticized Washington's handling of the national financial crisis.
State election records show former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, who currently leads state polls among the five GOP candidates, has voted the most consistently in state, national and local elections. While records show Simmons missed the 2005 general election, a campaign spokesman said a clerk at the polls erroneously marked Simmons' son, who had the same name and address, as voting instead of the elder Simmons.
"It's understandable that people might miss a vote occasionally for one reason or another," said Simmons campaign spokesman Jim Barnett. "However, it gets to be curious when you routinely miss votes in major federal and state elections, then wake up one day and decide you want to be a United States senator."
Records show state Sen. Sam Caligiuri of Waterbury has consistently voted in general elections, while former ambassador Thomas Foley of Greenwich missed voting in the 2003, 2004 and 2007 general elections.
