"Wait, That's Richard Blumenthal's Music!"

When the wife of the WWF's chairman is running for Senate (as a Republican in Connecticut), it's hard not to compare politics to professional wrestling. Gigantic hat tip to Peter Applebome, the Times' trenchant Metro columnist, for exploiting the similarities in his column yesterday on the latest developments in the campaign. Who needs to impose it on a joint mayoral campaign when it's actually happening?

Applebome revels in the humor of it all: "When Senator [Christopher] Dodd dropped out of the 2010 contest and Mr. Blumenthal stepped in on Wednesday, it had the feel of something Ms. McMahon might find far too familiar for comfort — the time-tested W.W.E. plot twist of the wounded brawler being rescued by a tougher, fresher one who is not even scheduled to be in the fight." And he exposes the hard-hitting truths: "Like professional wrestling, politics is now increasingly about polarizing brands. As in wrestling, the atmospherics mean more than the substance. As in wrestling, almost anything goes, though it’s in politics that the Swift-boating draws real blood."

Dodd -- whose decision to retire next year at his term's end allows Blumenthal, Connecticut's longtime attorney general, to come catapulting in over the top ropes -- represents that strange brand of longtime Washington politician. He has much to love and much to loathe. A true believer in Democratic causes, he was one of the chief authors of the Family Medical Leave Act and the committee he led (in Ted Kennedy's illness) produced the most liberal of the proposed health care reforms, among other accomplishments. Yet as he helped regulate the financial industry, he received millions of dollars in donations from it (and the pharmaceutical one), creating that always blurry line between personal conviction and personal convenience. And when his career and personal life ran afoul -- which happens simultaneously for public officials -- such as his circa 1980s carousing bachelorhood, ill-gotten discount mortgage from Countrywide Financial and ill-gotten profitable real estate deal in Ireland with a businessman convicted of securities fraud who was later pardoned by President Clinton at Dodd's request, his standing wasn't hurt in Washington because senators value seniority and camaraderie above all whenever they can.

This isn't a Democratic stain or Republican stain. It's nonpartisan, and one of the hallmarks of senatorial service and life. It's also a reason why so many people are fed up with their politicians.

Update: The other thing to note about the 2010 elections is despite all the news stories and commentary saying the number of Democrats retiring is a sign of the party's weakness, a greater number of Republicans in each house isn't seeking re-election, with a similar percentage of those seats capable of changing hands. Sometimes it's amazing how the political class loses facts in search of a story.