February 3, 2008 11:02

Rick Santorum Attacks McCain's "Temperament"

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, is back in the mix--big time. Over the weekend, he was out in Missouri, stumping for Mitt Romney, who he describes as the only true Reagan-coalition conservative left in the Republican race. As Jon Martin reports over at the Politico, Santorum has also volunteered his services as an attack dog for Romney. His target: John Sidney McCain III. In recorded phone calls to Super Tuesday states, Santorum tells voters:

As a conservative I don’t agree with McCain on many issues and I don’t think he has the temperament and leadership ability to move the country in the right direction.

For political junkies that word "temperament" is a red flag, a reference to McCain's much muttered-about (and often over-hyped) temper. So is Santorum really saying that McCain is too much of a loose cannon to hold the White House? I asked him about the "temperament" comment at a campaign stop in Maryland Heights, Mo., Sunday afternoon. Santorum did not hold back. Here is the entire quote:

John has openly admitted his struggles with that. He wrote about it. He talked about it. Mitt Romney has not talked about it in his campaign, but let me assure you the Democrats are going to talk about it in this campaign, if John McCain wins. I mean this idea that this is not an issue is only because his opponents have not made it an issue in this campaign. The other side isn't going to be as nice. So we need to get this out on the table. Is it dispositive? No. But I think it's one [thing to consider] if you look about the electability of this man, number one. And number two, [it speaks to] his ability to govern, when he is, I think I used this term before, when he is a little rough in the sandbox. Now this is coming from someone who is pretty rough in the sandbox too, but I am rough because of the causes I believe in and the issues and try not to make it personal, try not to make it strident. So I think it's a legitimate issue to have out there only because it's an issue that will be out there, and we'll hear a lot about it if he is the nominee.

Then I asked Santorum if he had any first-person experiences with McCain's temperament. "I don't know anybody in Washington who has worked extensively with the senator from Arizona who doesn't have a story to tell," he said. So what was Santorum's story? He declined to say, and walked away.

February 3, 2008 5:48

Maria Shriver for Obama!!!

In a shocker surprise endorsement, Maria Shriver -- First Lady of California and Ahh-nold's wife, just showed up at the Michelle Obama, Oprah, Caroline Kennedy rally in Los Angeles.

She's taking the stage now, more to come.

Update:
Now that I've finally made it to LAX...

Shriver, wearing a suede brown western-style jacket, explained her casual outfit, saying she woke up this morning intending to go to her daughter's horse show.

"I’m standing here because I want to be here," Shriver told the 9,000-person crowd. "I wasn’t on the schedule. And I thought to myself when I woke up this morning, I thought to myself there’s no place I’d like to be but here today... You know, the more I thought about it, I thought if Barack Obama was a state he’d be California. Think about it: diverse, independent, smart, bucks tradition..." Shriver said as the crowd chanted "Yes!" to each quality.

Interestingly Shriver announced her "support" for Obama, but never used the word "endorse," though Obama staff aftereard said her appearance and speech qualified as an endorsement. As my colleague Mark Halperin points out, she still has not made a decision about whether she will campaign for Obama.

Of course, Shriver is a Kennedy although she's married to the Republican governator of California. Walking out of the event Diane and Jonathan Kert, both retired state workers from Long Beach, mused about what this might make for dinner conversation in Sacramento tonight (Schwarzenegger has endorsed McCain). "I'm absolutely floored that the wife of a Republican governor in this state would be supporting a Democrat for president," said Jonathan, 61. "She took a risk that's almost historic."

"Yes dear, but she was on the stage with her cousin," Diane, 62, replied. "She is, after all a Democrat."

It remains to be seen how this could affect the vote in California. But in a state where Hillary has reached out almost exclusively to women Shriver's support -- and today's rally as a whole -- can't be great for Hillary.