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Simmons Quits Senate Race

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By Daniela Altimari
The Hartford Courant


Republican Rob Simmons, the one-time frontrunner for U.S. Senate, announced this morning that he is ending his campaign after losing his party's nomination to multimillionaire Linda McMahon.

"This is not an easy decision," Simmons said this morning at a press conference. "This is not a happy decision. But I believe it's the right decision."

Simmons is releasing his campaign staff and curtailing fundraising efforts, but his name will remain on the primary ballot. He did not say whether he would endorse McMahon or vote for her in November.

The former congressman and Vietnam War veteran lost the Republican convention's endorsement on Friday to the former World Wrestling CEO.

Simmons entered the Senate race in the winter of 2009, when a politically ailing Sen. Christopher Dodd was the presumptive Democratic nominee. Throughout the spring and summer and into the fall, Simmons sat atop public opinion polls.

Then McMahon entered the race in September and began spending millions on television ads and direct mail.

Throughout the increasingly bitter campaign between Simmons and McMahon, Simmons had said he would abide by the convention's choice and not force a primary. However on Friday he announced a change of heart and said he would primary McMahon for the party's nomination after all.

Late Monday, the Simmons campaign sent out a press release alerting reporters to the press conference this morning at the Radisson Hotel in New London.

"If that's the decision he's made, I know it was a difficult decision,'' said state Sen. John Kissel of Enfield, a longtime Simmons supporter. "I'm proud of Rob if he's come to that conclusion. ...It would be right for the party and right for Rob.''

McMahon, a political outsider who has never held elective office, has enormous resources. She said she would spend up to $50 million of her vast fortune on the campaign.

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