Bob McDonnell "Toxic" to National Republicans?

Big, big news out of California tonight. Meg Whitman, Republican candidate for governor of California, has mysteriously canceled a planned fundraiser with Bob McDonnell this week. Whitman's campaign has only been able to muster up the lame excuse of a "scheduling conflict."

But Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan says the real reason for Whitman's cold feet is clear:

"With his radical views on women anyone that Bob McDonnell touches is toxic, and now that the closed door event's become public, it's not surprising that she backed out," Sevugan said in an e-mail to CNN. "I'm sure Meg Whitman didn't want Californians to know that she was not only embracing, but was raising money for, a candidate who believes that women working outside the home are a 'detriment to the family' and voted against the principle of equal pay for equal work."

"Indeed, in Bob McDonnell's Virginia, Meg Whitman would not have been able to rise to position she rose to at eBay," he added.

And Sevugan doesn't even mention McDonnell's belief that a right to privacy doesn't exist -- that the state should be able to control what goes on inside your bedroom.

What a huge embarrassment to the McDonnell campaign -- dropped like a hot potato not just by any old Republican, but by a strong, self-made working woman.

A fringe, far-right conservative that national Republicans are worried they may have to spend the next four years reluctantly defending. Makes you wonder. Is Bob McDonnell the new Sarah Palin?