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In the last election cycle, former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon spent $50 million of her own fortune in an unsuccessful quest to fill Connecticut's vacant U.S. Senate seat, losing badly to her Democratic opponent, Richard Blumenthal. With the lessons of being a novice candidate behind her, McMahon is back for Round 2, poised to enter the 2012 race to succeed retiring four-term Sen. Joe Lieberman.

A source close to McMahon’s future campaign confirmed to RealClearPolitics that the Republican hopeful will make her candidacy official in the next two weeks. (News of her plans was first reported by The New York Times.)

Last year’s battle between McMahon and Blumenthal attracted national attention as Republicans tried to capture a seat long held by Democrat Christopher Dodd, who was retiring; the GOP was fueled by hopes of reversing the balance of power in the Senate. In the primary, McMahon rose quickly from a political unknown to a viable candidate, defeating former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons and businessman Peter Schiff. To compete with McMahon’s self-funding and rise in the polls, national Democrats were forced to direct more resources to a state that is typically safe for the party and which President Obama won in 2008 with 60 percent of the vote.

McMahon positioned herself as a newcomer and businesswoman who would shake things up in Washington, and she painted Blumenthal, then the state’s attorney general, as a career politician -- a narrative that played well with the angry electorate in other congressional races. But despite this and the size of her campaign coffers, McMahon wasn’t able to secure a victory for Republicans in an election that was historically successful for the GOP.

Since her loss, McMahon has been busy gauging the political climate and building support for another try at the Senate. She has been visible at state events, following up with those who backed her -- and those who didn’t -- in the last election. She has also supported local candidates, focused on grass-roots level organizers, and met with politicos in the Constitution State to figure out what went wrong last time, said former Connecticut GOP Chairman Chris Healy.

In the last go-around, “they hired more people than I think they knew what to do with,” said Healy, noting that “they did not have the kind of top-down management structure I think they should have had to build necessary support at the grass-roots level.” It wasn’t until too late in the campaign, he observed, that McMahon began to connect with voters on a personal level and convince them she was the best person for the job. Once she got into the routine of meeting with smaller groups, be they businesswomen, construction workers or neighborhood activists, “that’s where she was really effective.”

Financing her own campaign in 2010 also proved problematic for McMahon. Her claim that she didn’t want to be indebted to special interests was translated into the narrative that she was trying to buy her way into the Senate. More importantly, she lost the ballot support that is often associated with financial contributions from voters. “People who give you a $20 check, they’re with you, even more than someone who gives you a higher-number check,” said Healy.

This time, McMahon plans to raise money, according to the Republican source close to her upcoming campaign. She will also focus on mastering the skills of retail politicking by cultivating support from small groups and getting to know voters through more intimate meet-and-greets.

Even with a revamped approach and new attitude, earning the Republican nomination is anything but certain. Ten-term former Rep. Chris Shays, a moderate who was ousted in 2008 by Rep. Jim Himes, is also expected to enter the race. He doesn’t have experience running for statewide office, and his district is close to New York City, but “he has a great record, tremendous credibility and knowledge, and he is a good campaigner,” Healy said. “He has sort of an iconic, classic mix of being very much of a fiscal deficit hawk, very prescient on the issue of terrorism before 9/11, and is, I think, a real clear, sober voice for protection of American power.”

Still, backing Shays would be more costly for national Republicans than supporting McMahon, who will likely loan her campaign money to supplement fundraising. Hartford attorney Brian Hill has already announced his candidacy and former Comptroller General David Walker is also considering a bid.

The Democratic primary is already heating up. Former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and three-term Rep. Christopher Murphy are mounting campaigns. And having President Obama on the ballot in the general election will likely give the Democratic Senate candidate a leg up, given his success there in 2008.