Obviously, Linda McMahon still trails. But if this ad can’t close the gap, I’m not sure what can. It’s not loud, it’s not garish, it’s not over the top. It just uses Dick Blumenthal’s meandering words to confirm what I’ll bet many Connecticut folks suspect: Just as you wouldn’t prefer a businesswoman to run a D.A.’s office, you wouldn’t want a prosecutor to set policies on job creation. At this moment, what the state and country need are lawmakers who can pull out all the stops to try to drag down the painfully persistent 9.6 percent unemployment rate.

There have been a lot of good ads this cycle, but this one might be one of the simplest and most effective.

I was very, very skeptical when Linda McMahon began her bid for Senate this cycle, but she has run a fantastically disciplined and focused campaign. Wealth can help keep a campaign going, but wealth can also get squandered: H. Ross Perot, Michael Huffington, Al Checci. So far, it seems McMahon and the team around her know how to get the most bang for their considerable bucks.