By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

-- Rob Simmons, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Connecticut, took one step closer to officially being back in the race during a TV appearance last night.

Simmons's name will be on the ballot opposite former WWE CEO Linda McMahon in the Republican primary race next month. According to a report on the local NBC affiliate in Hartford, Conn., Simmons declared during a televised debate last night that he was running for Senator again.

Last week, Simmons's campaign announced he would run TV ads promoting the fact that his name would be on the ballot. Yesterday, he announced he was going one step further, but denied he would actually be resuming official campaigning.

The NBC affiliate included a quote from McMahon for the story. She reportedly called Simmons an "erratic semi-candidate."

-- Linda McMahon was called out on WWE classifying their wrestlers as independent contractors during a meet-and-greet with senior citizens in Greenwich on Tuesday morning.

The Stamford Advocate newspaper reports that a member of a local senior center where McMahon was making the appearance asked McMahon why WWE does not provide health insurance to wrestlers.

According to the report, "McMahon responded by saying WWE wrestlers are covered if they are injured while on the job, and are still paid."

Caldwell's Analysis: It's not clear if there's more to her response or if the Advocate was summarizing a lengthier answer McMahon provided, but that's a clear example of McMahon completely skirting a question and not even answering the question. For example, Chris Jericho has never really been injured and out-of-work during his career, which means he's never needed WWE to "cover him" if he's injured and can't work. McMahon completely skipped over the category of "non-injured wrestlers," who still need health coverage for their families and need basic health coverage to protect themselves in the event of any health complications and/or injuries.

Vince McMahon argued in the Connecticut Post story published earlier this week that WWE pays the wrestlers enough money to afford their own health insurance, but that's irrelevant to the issue. It doesn't matter how much the wrestlers earn; it comes down to WWE treating wrestlers like employees in virtually every aspect of business practice, yet classifying wrestlers as independent contractors. It's a method to avoid employment taxes and not having to contribute to a health care plan because of how much money that would cost considering the occupational health hazards working for WWE.

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