Meghan McCain: Christine O'Donnell Is a 'Nutjob'

Meghan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, said Sunday that Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party star that won the Delaware GOP Senate nomination, is a "nutjob" who is "making a mockery of running for public office."

"I speak as a 26-year-old woman," McCain said on ABC's This Week. "And my problem is that, no matter what, Christine O'Donnell is making a mockery of running for public office. She has no real history, no real success in any kind of business. And what that sends to my generation is, one day, you can just wake up and run for Senate, no matter how lack of experience you have."

The election of O'Donnell, who burst onto the national scene by coming from nowhere to upset longtime Republican Rep. Mike Castle in the party's primary, was followed quickly by disclosures that she once admitted she had "dabbled in witchcraft, was found on a 1996 videotape denouncing masturbation, and stories about her personal financial problems.

"It just turns people off, because she's seen as a nutjob," McCain said.

Veteran political consultant and analyst Matthew Dowd, a top strategist in former President Bush's 2004 campaign, said on the same program, "If you're wanting to win, Christine O'Donnell does not help that cause. Any time you run an ad that says "I am not witch," you know you've got problems in a campaign, even if it's Halloween this month."

"It's not helpful that she got nominated, but she is evidence that that (the anti-Democratic tide) is not going away," Dowd said. "And the only party benefiting from this in this year's election is the Republican Party, which is probably why they will take the House back, which is why they'll probably gain seven or eight seats in the Senate, even if they lose Delaware, because they have the passion and enthusiasm behind them."

"In the middle of a time when the country is so angry at Washington, they don't want the Democrats, they turn to candidates that are so outside that many of those candidates are either nuts or are somewhat off or not competent," he added.