In the ballroom at the Hartford Hilton we’re looking at pretty much the exact same staging in place two years ago when Democrat Richard Blumenthal battled Republican Linda McMahon for U.S. Senate.
Blumenthal won and delivered his victory speech from the Hilton stage which tonight has been set up for Democrat Chris Murphy.
Whether Murphy’s speech will be about also beating McMahon for U.S. Senate or losing the hard fought race remains to be seen.
While campaigning with Murphy in New Britain this afternoon, Blumenthal agreed that the twists and turns of the 2012 Senate race so far have mirrored those of the 2010 contest. Two years ago McMahon caused Democrats a lot of consternation as she slowly crept up on the popular Blumenthal in the polls, but by late summer/early fall she appeared to have peaked, while her opponent pulled ahead, eventually winning by around 12 points.
Murphy, who did not begin with the same statewide name recognition as Blumenthal, found himself in a similar position this summer. The narrative at the time was McMahon might actually capture the Senate seat in blue Connecticut because Murphy was no Blumenthal.
But Murphy has since managed to take the lead.
Whether that holds remains to be seen.