For GOP Candidates, Endorsements can also be a Liability

Matt Lewis | August 28, 2007 8:44 AM

It's getting to the point where GOP presidential candidates might want to avoid seeking endorsements of prominent Republican leaders.

... Or, at lest, they should start vetting people a bit more (despite the picture above, one of my contacts says Sen. Larry Craig often wore a pinky ring. Memo to candidates: Avoid

anyone with a pinky ring ...)

So far this year, Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain, and, now, Gov. Romney have been embarrassed by the actions of their high-profile GOP supporters.

As Politico's Jonathan Martin reports, Sen. Larry Craig was, until yesterday, a co-Senate liaison to Romney's campaign:

Explaining why he's backing Romney, Craig says in the video that it's in part because "he has very strong family values."

"That's something I grew up with and believe in," Craig explains.

Yeah ...

As Martin reports, a pro-Romney YouTube video clip featuring Craig was taken down yesterday.

It is unlikely that Romney's campaign will suffer any major backlash due to this, primarily because this is merely the latest in a long series of embarrassing endorsements. But it certainly doesn't do him -- or Republicans, in general -- any good.