If you thought the Connecticut senate race was all over when the flack over state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) lying about his military service died down, think again. According to the latest poll, Republican Linda McMahon is just 10 points behind Mr. Blumenthal (50% - 40%) and while that may seem like a pretty substantial lead for the Democrat, it has shrunk by 9 points in just 3 weeks.

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"The McMahon-Blumenthal Senate race in Connecticut could be a real smackdown, as the Republican has the money and momentum, cutting into Blumenthal's lead month to month," said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, PhD. "Independent voters, the largest bloc of voters in Connecticut, are for the first time evenly divided between Linda McMahon, who gets 46 percent, and Richard Blumenthal, who gets 44 percent. Blumenthal led 54 - 35 percent among independent voters just three weeks ago," Dr. Schwartz added. (source)

Ms. McMahon still has to win the GOP nomination in the August 10 primary, but she is the definite front runner in that race against former US Representative and retired US Army officer Rob Simmons and brokerage firm president Peter Schiff. According to that same poll, she leads Mr. Simmons by 17 points and Mr. Schiff by 30 points with less than a week to go.

Then that possible smackdown, a reference to Ms. McMahon's experience as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, can begin. Ms. McMahon has already set a record for spending by a self-funding candidate in Connecticut and promises to eventually spend $50 million of her personal fortune earned from the WWE. No doubt the Blumenthal campaign will attempt to discredit her abilities by using that association and while professional wrestling entertainment productions may not be the noblest of career choices, it's a much more honest way to make a living than repeatedly lying about one's military service in order to get a taxpayer funded job.

While this race has been in the solid Democratic column so far, the issue of ethics may play a bigger part than expected. In addition to Mr. Blumenthal's Vietnam lies, there's the upcoming ethics trials of his fellow Democrats - US Representative Charlie Rangel (D-New York) and US Representative Maxine Waters (D-California) - and the recent history of Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) who is retiring rather than face the inevitable campaign issues of his sweetheart deals from Countrywide Financial and his role in the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis.

Considering the ethical tide threatening to pull Democrats under, the nationwide surge of opposition to the party of Obama and the already better than expected poll number for the McMahon candidacy before the general election campaign has even officially started, Connecticut voters may just do the right thing in November.