McMahon and the Tea Party

Hartford, Conn. (WTNH) - All of the national political pundits keep talking about the impact of the Tea Party movement on this fall's elections and its impact on Republican candidates. Here in Connecticut, some are endorsing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon, but it does not appear to be a very close relationship.

The Tea Party groups' first choice was author and financial advisor Peter Schiff, but he was trounced in the primary. Since then, some of the 25 tea party groups in the state have endorsed McMahon.

"What I've found that we really have in common is the commitment to fiscal discipline and smaller government and having balanced budgets and not spending more than we make," McMahon said.

But she seems to distance herself from some Tea Party views.

Do you believe that President Obama is implementing the theories of Karl Marx, News 8's Mark Davis asked.

"President Obama has his own agenda. He's clearly governing in a way that is different from what I believe. We should govern, I believe, in smaller government," McMahon responded.

In some states the blessing of Sarah Palin has been a big boost to Tea Party endorsed candidates.

What would you do if Sarah Palin called you up on the phone and said, "Hey, I'm coming over, I'm going to endorse you tomorrow,' Davis asked.

"Well, I'd like to, you know, I would enjoy meeting the Governor, but I'm not seeking any outside endorsements so I'm just going to continue doing what I'm doing," McMahon responded.

Said Davis: "It sort of sounds like you really don't want her to come."

"No, I'm just going to kind of keep doing what I'm doing," McMahon said.

And what she's been doing has taken her from virtual political unknown 12 months ago to a very competitive challenger to the most popular elected official in the state. It was one year ago this week, that McMahon announced she was in the race.