A Kennedy gets Republican cheers at Balboa Bay Club

June Casagrande

It wasn’t until after making a case for her husband to an

enthusiastic audience of Republican women that Maria Shriver was

confronted with the question most salient in reporters’ minds: How

does the wife of gubernatorial hopeful Arnold Schwarzenegger respond

to accusations of sexual misconduct by her husband?

“I think his statement speaks for itself,” Shriver said before a

cluster of news cameras on Friday at the Balboa Bay Club. “He

apologized, and that’s courageous.”

When pressed on the matter, she got a little tougher.

“I don’t believe in gutter politics, and I don’t believe in gutter

journalism,” she said.

Shriver campaigned for her husband to a gathering of about 220

attendees of the California Women’s Leadership Assn., a Republican

group that grooms women to hold office.

“As you may have guessed, I didn’t spend much time around

Republicans growing up,” she said, earning a laugh.

But the niece of President John Kennedy, an accomplished

television journalist, turned such differences to her advantage,

milking the partisan tensions for humor while painting her husband as

a former bricklayer who understands working people and is committed

to inclusiveness.

“As a Democrat, I’m 100% comfortable supporting him,” she said.

Taking a cue from her 2000 book “Ten Things I Wish I’d Known

Before I Went Out into the Real World,” Shriver gave a speech on “Ten

Things I Want Every Californian to Know About Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

Topping her list, “Arnold is smart,” she said, describing her

husband as a man with a deep capacity and desire to learn and improve

himself. As she rattled off the qualities that she said made her

husband a good choice for governor, she also took a few swipes at

some of Schwarzenegger’s opponents, notably those who have attacked

his lack of experience in office.

“The type of person who knows every nook and cranny in Sacramento

is what got us in trouble in the first place,” she said, drawing

cheers.

Determination, optimism, courage and compassion were also on

Shriver’s list of her husband’s attributes.

‘I wouldn’t be standing here if he weren’t an A-plus human being,”

she said.