Contributions haunt rich Senate candidates

UPDATE: Contrary to the Center for Responsive Politics's data, The Hill's review of Linda and Vince McMahon's political giving shows they have actually given more to Republicans, with about 54 percent ($48,000) going to the GOP and 46 percent ($41,000) going to Democrats. The McMahon campaign's data show it is even more lopsided in favor of Republicans. I am working to reconcile the three data sets.

McMahon spokesman Ed Patru says, "It's important to note that Linda's contributions as CEO of WWE reflected the company's nonpartisan position. ... Also, Linda is running for Senate -- not her husband."

UPDATE 2: The Center for Responsive Politics's Michael Beckel says that, upon further review, my updated numbers are correct (though he noted that the Democratic number should technically be 44 percent, not 46 percent, because of a contribution to Democratic-caucusing independent Sen. Joe Lieberman).

Beckel says of the Center's analysis: "All of the dollar figures were accurately reported at the time, but there seems to have been an error in how some of the contributions were coded, which affected the automated calculation of the percentage given to Democrats and Republicans. We have revised the percentage figures now to reflect this."

With great wealth comes great answerability.

Two of the newest Senate candidates in the country, Steve Pagliuca (D) in Massachusetts and Linda McMahon (R) in Connecticut, are going to have to answer for their contributions to the opposing party over the years.

Pagliuca, the co-owner of the Boston Celtics, and McMahon, the recently resigned as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), both bring tremendous wealth to their respective races. But they have used that wealth to help out both major parties, and they face primary opponents who are sure to hammer them over it.

Pagliuca’s struggle is particularly difficult, since he is running to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) after supporting Mitt Romney’s (R) 1994 challenge to the senator. Pagliuca's defense (and it's a decent one) is that he was a colleague of Romney's at Bain Capital. He can also point to the fact that he would later support Kennedy in the 2000 campaign.

But Romney isn’t the only GOP candidate Pagliuca has supported, as the businessman has spread his money around to candidates including former Gov. William Weld (R) and, in 1999, to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R). That last one, though just $1,000, could be particularly painful in true-blue Massachusetts.

McMahon has an unfortunate history of contributions too, and probably more so than Pagliuca. She and her husband, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, have actually given more to Democrats than to Republicans over the years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. More than half — 51 percent — of their money has gone to Democrats, while 47 percent has gone to Republicans, the Center reports.

Her primary opponents will point out that McMahon gave to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) during the 2006 cycle — the same year the committee helped unseat two Connecticut Republicans. A local blog did an analysis that suggested that the contributions, on a dollars-per-vote basis, more than paid for former Rep. Rob Simmons’s (R-Conn.) 83-vote loss.

Incidentally, Simmons is the favorite in the Senate primary that McMahon entered last week.