By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

BusinessWeek, one of the leading business trade magazines in the industry, published a very lengthy and detailed report on former WWE CEO Linda McMahon's U.S. Senate campaign in Connecticut. (Read the full report.)

The story focuses on McMahon's WWE background, WWE's history of scandals and controversial TV content, and took readers inside her campaign's victory at the Connecticut Republican Convention last month that has set her up for a battle with Democratic candidate Richard Blumenthal in November.

BusinessWeek's Andrew Rice obtained plenty of safe, rehearsed quotes from McMahon related to her WWE background. The quote receiving the most attention coming out of the interview is McMahon downplaying the topic of "steroids" when asked about WWE's history of drug-related scandals.

"There's some evidence sometimes of muscle disease, or cardiac disease, but it's really hard to know because you didn't know the condition of the performer's heart, or whatever, prior to," McMahon said. "So I still don't think we know the long-term effects of steroids. They are continuing to study it more and more, but I don't believe there are a lot of studies out there today that are conclusive."

McMahon's campaign spokesman, Ed Patru, then stepped in to clean up a potential mess McMahon created with her quote dismissing "steroids" with a blanket statement covering the entire subject. Patru told The Day news outlet in Connecticut what McMahon actually believes.

"Linda clearly is opposed to illegal drug use. She believes steroid use can have long-term negative physical and psychiatric impact on the body, and those negative impacts obviously are exacerbated with abuse," Patru said. "Furthermore, she supports continuing research on the issue so that the public can better understand the full scope of impact long-term use has on the body. As for the WWE, it has a very clearly defined policy on all illegal drugs."

-- Since McMahon's campaign is being funded by her income generated as WWE CEO, BusinessWeek's report visited the main issues McMahon is faced with during her campaign: WWE's history of controversial TV programming and documented health risks performing for WWE. Typical of a mainstream report, the balance was shifted toward focusing on the TV content, including the McMahons playing various roles on TV during the years.

-- Also in the story, Ed Patru admitted that McMahon's campaign helped plant the New York Times story on Richard Blumenthal's misleading Vietnam War record last month right before the Republican Convention in Connecticut. Patru admitted they were trying to "send a message" to delegates.

"We made a strategic decision before the convention to put our fingerprints on this story," Patru says. "We believed it would send a message to the delegates."

-- BusinessWeek's report also takes a fascinating look inside the "political war room" at the Republican Convention. Andrew Rice reported one incident where Patru was angered that the campaign for McMahon's Republican opponent, Rob Simmons, was trying to bring about more negative publicity against McMahon.

Hearing something he didn't like, Patru barged from the room with an aggravated look. "It's dirty politics out on the floor," he growled. Simmons's supporters, Patru claimed, were spreading rumors that a TV station was about to break news of a scandal from McMahon's past. While it wasn't true, it wasn't unbelievable, either.

Caldwell's Analysis: BusinessWeek's Andrew Rice put together an in-depth, well-researched report covering a number of pertinent subjects, but there were definite "misses" to go with the "hits," especially with some revisionist history on Attitude Era subjects covered in the story.

The key to the steroids topic is McMahon failing to approach the subject with sophistication when sophistication is required. The abuse of steroids or the use of steroids for cosmetic reasons has been the chief concern with steroid use in pro wrestling for decades. The list of affected wrestlers through the years is long and unflattering. I argue the bigger concern is prescription pill abuse, but "steroids" catches more attention.

Throughout her campaign, McMahon has tried to downplay concerns over past WWE scandals and health issues by providing rehearsed statements on the current WWE Wellness Policy to unwitting reporters, but she slipped in this case. That's why Ed Patru is paid the big bucks, but it won't get any easier going forward to the November race when she's pressed harder, the spotlight gets bigger, the questions keep coming, and the pressure mounts.

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