Morning Read: McDonnell Squashes Santorum's “Concerns” Over Women In the Military

Presidential-hopeful Rick Santorum said that he has “concerns” about military women serving on the frontline.

But VA Gov. Bob McDonnell—who has a military-serving daughter—knows better than that and defended the nation's military women on Monday.

“I like Rick Santorum a lot. I just disagree with any inference that he might have made that somehow women are not capable of serving in the frontlines and serving in combat positions. And I base that in part on my own daughter’s own experience as a platoon leader in Iraq with 25 men working with her,” McDonnell said on CNN. “She did a great job, was in some risky situations, and yet endured and led and I’m proud of her.”

McDonnell said he made those comments to “make sure people didn’t think that women aren’t capable of doing the job,” according to Politico.

A backer of Romney, McDonnell made similar comments critical of Santorum at the CPAC conference this weekend.

Santorum’s made his initial comments during an interview on CNN with John King last week, when he was asked whether the Pentagon should relax its rules on women taking frontline roles in combat, Politico reports.

“I do have concerns about women in frontline combat. … I think that can be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interests of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved."

* Virginia state Senate voted Monday to make it harder for government to seize private property by eminent domain, but the constitutional amendment will have to be approved by Virginians in a state-wide referendum before it could go into affect.

The bill was inspired by a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the right of governments to take private property for economic-development projects, according to The Post. The legislation passed in a preliminary House vote Monday and is expected to officially pass today.

The legislation passed the House and Senate last year, but in order to amend Virginia’s constitution, the proposed change must pass the General Assembly twice, and then be approved by voters through referendum.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli responded in a statement:

"It has been seven long years of effort, but with today's vote, our citizens are one step closer to enshrining in the Constitution of Virginia the protections they deserve from overzealous governments and the developers who use them to take away Virginians' homes, farms, and small businesses," said Cuccinelli. "I have fought every year since the 2005 Kelo decision to strengthen property rights in the commonwealth through various bills and three attempts at a constitutional amendment. A property rights amendment to Virginia's constitution is the ultimate protection Virginians need, and voters will finally have a property rights amendment to vote on in the November ballot."

* Although still a few votes short of passage, MD Gov. Martin O'Malley said his same-sex marriage bill could be voted out of a House committee this week.

The governor, according to The Baltimore Sun, has been meeting with undecided delegates and will try to get a final vote count early this week.

"People always make their decisions against deadlines," The Sun reported O'Malley saying to reporters after giving an address at an Annapolis rally. "The bill has been heard in the House and is likely to move. Exactly when will be up to The Speaker of course."

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