McMahon's 'unfriendly fire' ad campaigns

Hartford, Conn. (WTNH) - The U.S. Senate battle in Connecticut between Republican Linda McMahon and Democrat Attorney General Richard Blumenthal keeps on brewing.

Another direct mail pamphlet from the McMahon campaign has gone out to thousands of Connecticut voters and is again targeting Blumenthal's "mis-statements" about Vietnam.

It's definitely unfriendly fire in the state's mailboxes from Linda McMahon.

They didn't really look all that comfortable sitting next to each other at yesterday's Crocodile Club luncheon in Bristol, but Linda McMahon and Dick Blumenthal did seem on friendly terms.

But when Crocodile Club attendees and just about everyone else in the state got home Tuesday night, they found that the McMahon campaign had sent them another direct mail brochure going after Blumenthal on his admitted mis-statements about his military service during Vietnam.

It is now the third direct mail piece in recent weeks on the topic.

The most recent one says it comes from a group called "Veterans for McMahon” and is an open letter to Blumenthal saying it is "not simply a matter of misspeaking.”

It is clearly a pattern of deception. It is dishonest. It is dishonorable and we can only assume that you made up these stories in your own political self interest. You exploited and exaggerated your military service for personal political gain."

Blumenthal has apologized for the few times he has said in the past that served "in" Vietnam instead of "during" Vietnam and has characterized it as "misspeaking."

"I was really appalled when I heard that Dick Blumenthal had misrepresented himself,” Richard Seder said.

Richard Seder of Norwich would rather talk about his French Bulldogs than his Vietnam service in the U.S. Navy, not wanting to talk about Vietnam is not uncommon among Vietnam veterans. But he is one of the many who signed the letter and was willing to go public.

“It upset me, not so much for myself, but for people who really lost pieces of their body and even their lives and this just seemed like a wrong thing to do and really made me question his integrity,” Seder stated.

Viewers have told News 8’s Mark Davis that they have received phone calls from a research firm asking questions about this and other issues.

Dick Blumenthal is no longer talking about it. But it's quite clear the McMahon campaign will continue to do so.