For those of you who care about the political future of Israel-opposing, Chris Murphy-bashing, lawsuit-filing, ex-Democrat Lee Whitnum of Greenwich…
This weekend we published my report about how infighting among members of the state’s Independent Party complicates Republican Linda McMahon’s efforts to appear on the November ballot as both the GOP candidate and the Independent candidate for U.S. Senate.
When I was working on the piece I phoned Whitnum, who, having failed at her bid for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate recently announced she’d be competing with McMahon for the Independent Party endorsement.
Whitnum clarified that is not the case.
“I’m running as ‘no party’. She’s running as Independent,” Whitnum said of McMahon. “They (the Independent Party) could cross-endorse me if they wanted (but) I’m not counting on that.”
Whitnum said she did not want the ongoing feud among Independent leaders to impact her continuing her Senate candidacy.
“I can’t take that risk. I’ve thought about this a lot,” she said.
Av Harris, spokesman for the Secretary of the State, said Whitnum has filed the necessary paperwork to begin collecting the 7,500 signatures of registered voters necessary for petition candidates to qualify for the November ballot.
McMahon must do the same as she seeks the Independent line.
“You can do it with a party or as a small ‘i’ independent petitioning candidate,” Harris said.
Petition candidates have to turn in signatures to the Secretary of the State by August 8.
Whitnum in an interview earlier this year told me that despite being the Democratic Party’s “bastard child” she had no intention of leaving.
Whitnum in 2008 successfully petitioned her way into a congressional primary against fellow Greenwich Democrat Jim Himes, ultimately losing.
But Whitnum also showed up at the wrong convention when she sought the U.S. Senate nomination in 2010 and, despite appearing in this year’s debates, skipped May’s Democratic convention.