Two degrees (or fewer) of Linda McMahon's strategist

On Thursday, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, offered an amendment to the defense supplemental bill currently pending in Congress that would make it a crime to inflate one's service record.

As the Huffington Post notes, the amendment comes on the heels of a damaging concession by Democrat Richard Blumenthal that he has on at least several occasions falsely stated or suggested he served in Vietnam.

As quoted by the Post, Hatch says his introduction of the amendment is about restoring valor stolen by those who would falsely claim it.

"It is sad that there are those who attempt to inflate their record and make these claims," the Post quoted Hatch as saying.

It's an amendment that's sure to keep the Blumenthal controversy in the news, and that's good news for Linda McMahon, the endorsed Republican candidate and Blumenthal's likely competition in the Senate race this fall.

I take Hatch at face value on the intent of his legislation. But this is interesting.

You know who Hatch pays, through both his Senate campaign committee and his leadership PAC, OrrinPAC, for a variety of consulting services? Mike and Lindsey Slanker, the husband-and-wife team who are some of the most successful Republican campaign consultants in the country. Mike Slanker was a political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Lindsey Slanker its finance director.

She's a partner at October Inc., a firm Hatch's campaigns have paid several thousand dollars of recent months. She's also a partner at November Inc., Slanker's campaign firm. They're both involved with Autumn E-Media, also on the Hatch payroll.

And the Slankers are also integral members of Linda McMahon's campaign team. McMahon has used November Inc. and Autumn extensively, according to her FEC filings.

It may just be coincidental. More likely, I think it's a sign of how much smaller the political world is than some may believe - everybody here knows everybody.

Or maybe there's more to it than that. We're still waiting for the McMahon campaign to say whether Slanker has been subpoenaed or questioned by the FBI in its ongoing probe of his former boss, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

But if they want to let us know if the McMahon campaign helped Hatch come up with this latest legislative initiative through the medium of their mutual employee, we're all ears.

Update:

Here's a quote e-mailed by Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for Hatch: "Senator Hatch introduced this amendment because it's the right thing to do. Period. Any insinuation otherwise is patently false."