Is anything beyond decency for McMahon?

Since he has enjoyed 20 years as Connecticut’s scold-in-chief if not supreme demagogue, suing everything that might be unpopular and striking a thousand righteous poses for a fawning news media, it may be hard to feel sorry for Attorney General Richard Blumenthal now that, as the Democratic nominee for U.S. senator, he has been pounded by someone who has effectively infinite money for the task, much more than even the attorney general’s office could have spent glorifying its occupant.

Ordinarily, turnabout is fair play, and the prospect of giving Blumenthal more than a taste of his own medicine was irresistibly delicious to the Republican state convention and state Republican voters, causing them to choose a Senate candidate, wrestling entrepreneur and zillionaire Linda McMahon, who has no more than the constitutional qualification for office.

Hard to feel sorry for Blumenthal, yes — but McMahon’s campaign yet may make it possible, starting with the attack video it has been circulating, which may become a television commercial.

The attack video shows an excerpt from Blumenthal’s appearance on a national television news program, in which he remarks that he has never taken campaign contributions from political action committees and special interests, and then shows him walking to and from the convention center in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where last month he attended a campaign fundraising event sponsored by a lawyer organization for some Democratic Senate candidates. In the attack video Blumenthal’s presence in Vancouver is explained by text from news reports about the fundraiser even as his comment that he has never accepted PAC and special-interest contributions is replayed.

The suggestion is that Connecticut’s scourge of God is actually a great hypocrite — and he may be, but not for this particular episode.

For Blumenthal’s comment in the TV interview about declining special interest contributions was made on Jan. 7 and no evidence is offered that it was not true when it was made, while his appearance at the fundraiser in Vancouver was fully six months later, on July 11. In the interim, of course, McMahon began donating millions of dollars to her campaign, eventually disclosing that she might donate and spend $30 million or more, an unprecedented sum in Connecticut politics, perhaps unprecedented even nationally, many times what Blumenthal might raise for his campaign by forswearing special interest contributions and many times more even than what he might raise with such contributions.

So if Blumenthal has changed his mind about special interest contributions, it was changed only by McMahon’s own determination and ability to buy the election.

But the attack video’s omission of this crucial information isn’t the worst of it. The worst of it is its recording of Blumenthal walking by himself to and from the convention center in Vancouver. The man was being stalked by McMahon’s campaign or someone associated with it. It’s one thing to record a rival candidate’s speeches, answers to questions at public events, or his conduct on the job; that’s fair game and many campaigns now do it. It is something else to follow a candidate around surreptitiously when he is doing nothing of anyone else’s business. Even attorneys general and candidates for senator are entitled to that much privacy.

Further, Blumenthal’s attendance at the Democratic fundraiser in Vancouver was not a covert affair. As the attack video notes, it was reported by some news organizations in the state and Blumenthal’s campaign confirmed it. If his campaign accepts special interest contributions, presumably they will be reported promptly according to law and will be subject to criticism, and Blumenthal may be obliged to explain any change in his campaign practices. With McMahon’s campaign working its way through $30 million and maybe even $50 million, such a change in practice may not be too hard to explain.

The more important explaining here may be for McMahon to do. Exactly who arranged and undertook the surveillance of Blumenthal as he walked around Vancouver? How much more was Blumenthal stalked than is shown in the attack video? Is he being stalked even now? Will he be stalked again apart from public events? Does the McMahon campaign have any rules for this stalking? Can Blumenthal be assured of any privacy at all as long as he stands in McMahon’s way?

And since she seems ready to spend whatever it takes to buy Connecticut’s Senate election, is there anything beyond decency that McMahon won’t do to win it?

Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester.