A prerequisite to winning Connecticut's vacant Senate seat should be years of public service and experience within the community. Candidate Linda McMahon has neither.

Her "warm reception" in New London on July 9 indicates that far too many people are ill-informed and swayed by celebrity status.

Besides her World Wrestling Entertainment credentials, what can she offer? Not much. Her five-point platform addresses little other than the economy at large.

Representing the great state of Connecticut requires a much more varied skill set. After spending the past two decades building a frivolous entertainment industry fraught with sexism and steroid abuse, what does she truly know about social services, agriculture, public health, the judicial system or environmental protection?

Meanwhile, across town that same day, two worthier candidates, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and former Rep. Rob Simmons (still on the GOP's Aug. 10 primary ballot), attended the opening of this area's first transitional housing for homeless veterans, giving them access to stable housing and support services to find employment and return to independent living.

Do you want a senator best known as World Wrestling Entertainment's chief executive officer or one with a proven record of public service to the people of Connecticut?