World Wrestling Entertainment’s threat to sue the Journal Inquirer for libel over a column comparing its programming to pornography took a new twist with the newspaper filing an elections complaint.

In a complaint lodged last week with the Federal Election Commission, the JI alleges that WWE is working to assist the Senate campaign of its co-founder and former chief executive, Linda McMahon.

Given the publicity generated by the libel threat — it put WWE’s old racy programming back in the press, something McMahon’s opponents failed to do — it might be McMahon who has the biggest grievance against the company still run by her husband.

Mark is the Capitol Bureau Chief and a co-founder of CT Mirror. He is a frequent contributor to WNPR, a former state politics writer for The Hartford Courant and Journal Inquirer, and contributor for The New York Times.

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