Rob Simmons Rejoins Connecticut Senate Race . . . Yet Again

The on-again, off-again, only-sort-of-on-again Senate campaign of Rob Simmons is back on, with the Connecticut Republican declaring definitively: "I am running for the U.S. Senate, because I love my country, and I don't like where it's going."

Simmons made the declaration at a debate Tuesday against Republican businessman Peter Schiff and third party candidates, a week after saying he wouldn't actively campaign, but would air ads as "public service announcements" to remind voters that he was still on the primary ballot.

Simmons, a one-time front runner, suspended his campaign in May after the state Republican convention, when pro wrestling mogul Linda McMahon was chosen as the GOP nominee.

McMahon, the former chief of World Wrestling Entertainment, did not attend the debate, but her campaign dismissed any notion that Simmons would regain a competitive footing before the Aug. 10 primary.

"To say he's behaving erratically is an understatement. I think the convention loss left him angry and embittered and looking to play the role of spoiler," Ed Patru, a spokesman for McMahon, told The CT Mirror. "We're focused on Dick Blumenthal at this point, and we're encouraged that more and more Republicans continue to support Linda."

Blumenthal, Connecticut's attorney general, is the likely Democratic candidate.

Simmons is a decorated Vietnam veteran and onetime Central Intelligence Agency officer.