maria shriver

NEW YORK (AP) ― The wives of five 2008 presidential hopefuls on Tuesday traded tales of juggling their kids, marriages and self-esteem in the maelstrom of a national campaign.

Republicans Cindy McCain, Jeri Thompson and Ann Romney joined Democrats Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Edwards at the California Women's Conference, an annual gathering in Long Beach hosted by Maria Shriver, the state's first lady. Shriver, a former television news anchor, moderated the panel.

Political differences scarcely were mentioned during the hourlong discussion as they described how they keep up a grueling schedule of campaign appearances while trying to preserve time with their children and protect their husbands from overzealous handlers.

They held hands and exchanged hugs as the panel concluded.

All said they had little input on policy matters. And they largely rejected the notion made famous by Bill Clinton in the 1992 campaign when he described his partnership with his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as "Buy one, get one free."

Hillary Clinton, now the Democratic front-runner and only woman in the presidential contest, was never mentioned. Her husband, the former president, did not attend the spouses' panel, but Shriver joked that she had invited him to serve coffee. Also absent was Republican Rudy Giuliani's wife, Judith.

Thompson, a former Republican party strategist and wife of GOP contender Fred Thompson, dismissed widely reported accounts of her heavy involvement in his campaign.

"I have a 1-year-old ... I also have a 4-year-old. That's my main role," Thompson said. "Other than that, I do what I can to help. But I'm not even qualified enough to do any of the other stuff."

Obama, a lawyer and vice president of the University of Chicago hospital system, said she often discusses policy issues with her husband, Democrat Barack Obama. But she said he ultimately keeps his own counsel on such matters.

"In the end, I go to my job and I make decisions on my job and those are my decisions. He goes to his job and makes the decisions on his job. And I would like to think that he had the good sense to understand that usually I am correct," she said to laughs and applause.

Edwards and McCain were the panel's campaign veterans, having been at their husbands' side in previous presidential efforts. Republican John McCain lost George W. Bush in the 2000 GOP primaries, while John Edwards lost the Democratic nomination to John Kerry in 2004 before becoming Kerry's running mate.

McCain, for her part, marveled at the "absolute wonder and beauty" of the campaign experience and how much it had helped her relationship with her husband.

"It's just the two of us," McCain said. "We're close friends, we are our worst critics and our best friends. He advises me on everything, I advise him on everything ... You need a friend, a booster, and he is definitely there."

Edwards, who has incurable breast cancer, was asked what dreams she had been forced to put on hold for the campaign.

She described how she had looked forward to walking with her husband through the woods near their North Carolina home once the campaign was over. Her illness had caused her to rethink those plans, she said.

"John didn't take it away from me. Fate took it away from me," she said.

Romney, the wife of GOP hopeful Mitt Romney, said the life of a campaign spouse is simply a magnified version of what many women struggle with each day. She acknowledged Edwards' breast cancer and noted that she suffers from multiple sclerosis.

"At some point, our bodies, as women, finally say 'Uncle,'" Romney said. I truly believe because we are juggling so many balls all the time, and trying to keep it together, we forget to take care of ourselves."

On the Net:
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- Oct 24, 2007
- 55 minutes ago
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Last Modified: October 23, 2007, 7:20 am.



Web results


Maria Shriver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maria Owings Shriver (pronounced: /'??a?v?/) (born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist and the wife of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and ...

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Maria Shriver, First Lady of California :: Home Page
WE HONOR -- Maria Shriver Announces the Remarkable Recipients of the 2007 Minerva ... WE INCLUDE -- Maria Shriver Joins Toys "R" Us to Promote Toy Guide for ...

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Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver on IMDb: Movies, TV, Celebs, and more...

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California's First Lady, Maria Shriver, discusses her current work throughout the state, efforts in support of women, and life as a broadcast journalist and ...

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Maria Shriver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Maria Shriver

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First Lady of California
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 17, 2003
Preceded by Sharon Ryer Davis
Succeeded by Incumbent

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born November 6, 1955 (1955-11-06) (age 51)
Chicago, Illinois
Nationality American
Spouse Arnold Schwarzenegger
Relations Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Children Katherine Eunice, Christina Maria Aurelia, Patrick Arnold, Christopher Sargent
Residence Los Angeles, California
Alma mater Georgetown University
Occupation TV news journalist, author, First Lady of California
Religion Roman Catholic
Maria Owings Shriver (pronounced: /'??a?v?/) (born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist and the wife of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and, as such, the First Lady of California.

Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Early life
1.2 Career
1.3 Personal life
1.4 Political spouse
2 References
3 External links
3.1 Official
3.2 Unofficial



[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life
Shriver was born in Chicago, Illinois. A Roman Catholic of Irish descent, she was the second child and only daughter of the politician Sargent Shriver and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of the former President John F. Kennedy. She attended Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC. Maria also attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland being in the class of 1973. Shriver received a B.A. degree in American Studies from Georgetown University in June 1977.


[edit] Career
In her book Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World, Shriver says that she became passionate about broadcast journalism after being sent to the back of the campaign plane with the press corps when volunteering for her father's vice presidential race, calling these orders "the best thing that ever happened to me." After her journalism career began with KYW-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she co-anchored the CBS Morning News with Forrest Sawyer from 1985 until 1987, co-anchored Sunday Today and weekend editions of NBC Nightly News from 1987 until 1989, and was a contributing anchor on Dateline NBC from 1989 until 2004. In August of 2003, Shriver took an unpaid leave of absence from NBC News when her husband became a candidate in the 2003 California recall.

Upon her husband's inauguration as the 38th Governor of California, she became the First Lady of California on November 17, 2003. She then returned to reporting, making two more appearances for Dateline NBC.

On February 3, 2004, Shriver told NBC she wished to be "relieved of [her] duties at NBC News," citing the conflict of interest between her role as a journalist and her status as the First Lady of California and her increasing role as an advocate of her husband's administration. NBC News president Neal Shapiro did not refer to Shriver's decision as a resignation, however, and issued a statement calling Shriver's departure "an extended leave of absence."

Shriver has played a minor role in Be Prepared, an episode of the television series That's So Raven as herself promoting a "Preparedness Plan". She also appeared as herself in the film Last Action Hero. On March 23, 2007, Shriver returned to television news as substitute host of panel-discussion talk show Larry King Live on CNN. Shriver moderated discussion of breast cancer and its effects with cancer specialist Dr. Susan Love, musician Sheryl Crow, and other guests.

Shriver announced that she will not return to news media after the excessive media coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith.[1][2]


[edit] Personal life
In 1977, Tom Brokaw introduced Maria to Austrian bodybuilder, actor and current Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, at a charity tennis tournament being held at Eunice Kennedy Shriver's home. She married Schwarzenegger on April 26, 1986 in Hyannis, Massachusetts at St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church.[3]

They have four children:

Katherine Eunice Schwarzenegger, born December 13, 1989 in Los Angeles, California (Her middle name, Eunice, is the first name of her maternal grandmother.)
Christina Maria Aurelia Schwarzenegger, born July 23, 1991 in Los Angeles, California[4] (Her first middle name, Maria, is the first name of her mother. Her second middle name, Aurelia, was the first name of her paternal grandmother.)
Patrick Arnold Schwarzenegger, born September 18, 1993 in Los Angeles, California[5](His middle name, Arnold, is the first name of his father. His first name, Patrick, comes from his great-grandfather Joseph Patrick Kennedy.[6])
Christopher Sargent Shriver Schwarzenegger [7], born September 27, 1997 in Los Angeles, California[8] (His middle name, Sargent, is the first name of his maternal grandfather.)
Her daughter, Katherine, will graduate from the Brentwood School (Class of 2008)[9][10] and Christina is attending the Archer School for Girls where she will graduate in 2009. Both boys attend Brentwood also.

On Sundays, Shriver and her family attend mass at St. Monica's Catholic Church.[11][12] The Schwarzenegger-Shrivers live in their 11,000-square-foot home in Brentwood.[13][14] They used to own a home in the Pacific Palisades.[15] The family owns vacation homes in Sun Valley, Idaho and Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.[16]

The Saint John's Health Center has a nursery named after Shriver.[17][18]


[edit] Political spouse

Candid shot of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife, Maria Shriver at Log Cabin Republican's "Courage To Lead" dinner in June of 2006During her husband's tenure as the Governor of California, Shriver was initially tentative in her role as the Governor's wife. Some speculated that she felt that her husband would not attempt to gain the Governor's seat in the recall election that drove Gray Davis from office. When Arnold announced his candidacy abruptly on the Tonight show with Jay Leno, she played the part of the loyal political spouse. Since Governor Schwarzenegger took office, Maria has visibly supported her husband and has taken on several key initiatives as first lady - raising awareness of the contributions of women to the state, working on practical solutions to end cycles of poverty and encouraging all Californians to engage in acts of service to their communities. As her husband proposed a series of California ballot initiatives in November 2005, she decided to forego any public support of her husband's proposals.

Prior to her work at NBC, Shriver had co-anchored the CBS Morning News. She has won Peabody and Emmy awards and is the author of five best-selling books: What's Heaven, Ten Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Went Out Into The Real World, What's Wrong with Timmy?, What's Happening to Grandpa? and And One More Thing Before You Go.