By Chris Newth, PWTorch political analyst

Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon's Republican primary win last night as well as her initial post-victory TV interviews on NBC and ABC suggest more than anything that she has quickly become a formidable candidate for office.

What is abundantly clear is that McMahon has become a strong politician in a relatively short amount of time. Say what you will about her stances on policy or the controversial television content that underlies her reputation as a successful businesswoman, Linda McMahon has proved that she can survive and persevere through political firestorms.

Her involvement with WWE was prominently vetted during the primaries, and she came out on top. It's actually helping her avoid tough policy issues that she should be facing, like her stances on the 14th amendment or same-sex marriage.

Also at play is the massive self-funding effort. As I've noted previously, McMahon outspent her primary competition seven-to-one. Her personal wealth and willingness to shell out her own money undoubtedly helped her clinch the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate yesterday. But it would be short-sighted to solely credit her influential monetary advantage for her primary success.

Recent interviews prove that Linda McMahon learned the political game rather quickly in recent weeks. She knows exactly how to direct the conversation. Her answers to WWE-related questions exhibit confidence and grace. She's been asked so many times about WWE television content over the past few months against Rob Simmons in the Republican primary battle that the subject has become almost easy for her to circumvent. She now understands and can easily anticipate the degree to which the media will pry on that topic.

Her strategy remains the same: calmly and meticulously state her case, position WWE as a fictional program featuring actors that happen to participate in fake fights, and then, after laying out her talking points for a few minutes, redirect the conversation. McMahon gives reporters just enough information on WWE to quench their thirst, then insists that the voters of Connecticut really want to talk about issues that affect their lives.

It's a sound political tactic, and it's working. The topic of past WWE programming can almost always be expected to arise in her interviews, and McMahon is well aware of this. She doesn't cut reporters off or refuse to discuss the issue; instead, she gives it some time with safe answers that will satisfy the average voter and then advances to policy-based topics.

And it's become clear that McMahon has indeed won the battle. The WWE affiliation didn't impede her from winning the Connecticut primary, and the media poses the same questions about it. Her responses may not appease everyone, but they work. Additionally, each time the subject arises, it lessens in impact. She beat it.

The paradox, of course, is that McMahon wants to downplay the various controversial elements of the industry during her run in WWE while simultaneously running on the success of the business as proof that she made a strong CEO. Her message to voters is that she's qualified to be Senator of Connecticut because she's a proven leader who expanded a company into a global enterprise.

McMahon went even further on NBC's "Today," explaining to Ann Curry, "If the Democrats want to continue to focus on content of a television program that has evolved to PG and I continue to talk about the issues, I'm going to win again in November." As strange as it may seem to her skeptics and critics, she may just be right.

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