By Chris Newth, PWTorch political analyst

Monday night's edition of "Nightline" on ABC featured a polished Linda McMahon standing up to fair political criticism with a mainstream media outlet. She faced questions concerning the more controversial elements of WWE programming, and met them with shrewd, artful responses. It's clear at this point that she can overcome even harsh criticism of particular WWE television storylines with political finesse.

Her protracted primary battle has helped to prepare her for this direction of attack. Not only has she learned to divert her answers successfully, but the subject itself has had plenty of exposure, lessening in impact each time it's mentioned. If this becomes the principal issue Democrats plan to levy against her, they may be in for trouble.

McMahon has learned how to downplay the story and defend herself without political pushback or a backlash from voters. For whatever reason, targeting Linda McMahon for the creative content of WWE TV has not been a worthwhile endeavor by her political opponents.

Perhaps the stand-out topic coming out of her ABC interview is the idea of money and how it has influenced the campaign so far. Linda McMahon has already spent $22 million of her own personal wealth in her bid for United States Senate. That money undoubtedly assisted her in what is likely going to be a clear victory in tonight's Republican primary.

But how much is $22 million? To put things in perspective, Politics Daily reports that former WWE CEO Linda McMahon is already the "fourth most lavish self-funder in American congressional campaign history."

And she hasn't even begun her general election campaign yet. In fact, McMahon says she's willing to spend $50 million of her own money if necessary. However, self-funding is a slippery subject with reasonable arguments on both sides.

On the one hand, people can argue that with enough money, someone can essentially buy an election. With unlimited funds, a candidate could saturate the TV market with advertisements, the most desired form of tactical, manipulated exposure one could have.

According to Politics Daily, "Democrats privately make the case that nothing in politics is more formidable than McMahon's bottomless bank account. This view is echoed by Douglas Schwartz, the director of the Quinnipiac poll, who said, 'Linda McMahon has run an extremely effective advertising campaign both with her TV commercials and her mailings. Money does count in politics.'"

On the other hand, particular votes in the Senate may not be restrained or influenced in any way by monetary conditions. McMahon addressed this issue on Dateline.

"I kind of have to reject that notion that you can buy a seat in the state of Connecticut because I'll tell you these are very discerning voters," McMahon said, "I'm not taking any PAC money or any special interest money. I don’t have to give up my independence of voting. I don't have any favors owed when I go to Washington."

In a sense, it's a debatable trade-off. McMahon clearly benefits from all the money spent on advertising, which has provided the traction she needs to not only beat Rob Simmons in the Republican primary but also to become a formidable opponent against Democratic candidate Richard Blumenthal in the Nutmeg State, which ranks as the second most liberal state in the nation according to a recent Gallup poll.

If the strategy does pay off for McMahon, however, the question will revolve not around how special interests will affect her voting, but instead on how politics will. As a candidate with no monetary ties or favors to pay, will she become an independent voice in the Senate as she implies or fall in line with the Republican party on nearly every vote she casts?

Chris Newth is a political analyst for PWTorch and can be reached at newthtorch@gmail.com.

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