HARTFORD, Conn. – Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon said Friday she has no regrets about spending nearly $50 million on her failed bid for Connecticut’s Senate seat and is not ruling out a return trip to the campaign trail.

In a telephone interview Friday, the Republican first-time nominee said she plans to meet with her consultants and analyze the campaign.

She said they’ll probably conduct post-campaign polling to determine what went wrong and what could have been done differently.

Exit polls showed that the winner, Democrat Richard Blumenthal, received three of every five votes from women despite McMahon’s advertising aimed specifically at connecting with female voters.

“That’s probably one of the things that we’ll take a look at,” said McMahon, adding that the polling would help “determine what that push-back was so we could address that.” She said she also wants to gauge reaction to some of her ads and mailers.

McMahon would not say whether she plans to run again in 2012, when Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., is up for re-election. When asked about her plans, McMahon said she is “considering a couple of different directions” and will make a decision after Jan. 1.

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She reiterated, however, that she’s not returning to World Wrestling Entertainment, where she was the CEO until last fall.

“I thoroughly loved it. It will always be in my blood, always be a part of me, that’s for sure,” McMahon said. “But stepping back into an administrative role would just not be the right thing for me now.”

If she does run for office again, McMahon said she wouldn’t have to spend anywhere near the $50 million she’s expected to have spent on this year’s Senate race.

Based on the 493,158 votes that The Associated Press reported McMahon winning, she spent more than $101 per vote — more per vote than Republican California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, the former eBay chief executive who spent $142 million on her losing effort.

McMahon defended many of her expenses, such as spending tens of thousands of dollars to rent out hotel ballrooms and restaurants. Federal campaign finance reports show $36,000 was spent on a single event at an Enfield hotel to court supporters.

Although she jokes that she underwent her “own version of job creation” by spending so much money on the race, she bristles at accusations that she tried to buy the Senate seat.

“That just always rubbed me the wrong way, only because I knew how hard I was working,” she said.

McMahon said she made more than 850 campaign stops during her 14-month quest to fill the seat now held by Sen. Chris Dodd.

 


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