Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon is airing a new TV ad that hits Democratic opponent Richard Blumenthal on his misstatements about his military service.
The 30-second spot, which begins airing just hours before tonight's closely watched debate between the two candidates, contains a new snippet of footage of Blumenthal talking about his military service at an event in Bridgeport in April, 2003.
"When we returned we sought nothing of this gratitude,'' he states. Blumenthal, a Marine reservist, served stateside, not in Vietnam.
"If he lied about Vietnam, what else is he lying about?" the narrator in the ad intones.
The matter of Blumenthal's military record became a campaign issue back in May, after the New York Times uncovered a video of him speaking at an event in Norwalk. (The McMahon campaign later took credit for feeding the explosive scoop to the Times.) "We have learned something important since the days I served in Vietnam,'' Blumenthal told the Norwalk audience.
Blumenthal said he "misspoke" and issued an email apology a few days later. But the issue continues to haunt him -- McMahon has hammered him on it in mailers, press releases and now, this new ad.