For Marilyn Quayle, Politics Is Child’s Play

Surrounded by Secret Service agents and photographers, Marilyn Quayle strode into the Burbank day-care center’s infant room Monday and dropped to her knees to cuddle smiling Brittiney Ford, a 5 1/2-month-old bundle in pink, as cameras flashed.

The wife of Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle looked like a political pro basking in a photo opportunity tailor-made for California baby boomers.

Quayle’s well-documented half-hour of kissing babies and holding children at the Horace Mann Center was one of three San Fernando Valley stops during the first day of a 5-day California campaign swing. She also visited the California Republican Party headquarters in Burbank and attended a private reception in Northridge.

During a brief interview at the center, Quayle, 39, was cautious in her comments about the campaign and the future.

Despite the growing prospect that her husband will be elected vice president in three weeks, she said she hasn’t decided what her goals will be if she becomes the nation’s Second Lady.

“I haven’t gotten that far,” said Quayle, a lawyer and mother of three. “Nov. 9 I’ll see what doors are open to me and what choices I can make.”

Cautiously Hopeful

She expressed guarded optimism about the GOP campaign.

“I’ve always felt good about it,” she said. “I think that if the American people are encouraged by what’s been going on--that we’re finally going back to a growth economy, that people are back to work, that we do have peace abroad--then of course they’ll vote for George Bush and Dan Quayle.”

Asked whether she anticipates a landslide, as some pundits have speculated in recent days, she hesitated a moment and replied, “It’s too early for that.”

Did she think that her husband, who has taken so much criticism from the Democrats, the media and even members of his own party, would one day seek the presidency himself?

This time she did not hesitate: “It’s too early for that, too.”

She expressed quiet anger at media coverage, which has included suggestions that Dan Quayle was picked for the ticket because of his telegenic good looks, that he is an intellectual lightweight, that he used family influence to avoid the draft and that he had a relationship with a woman lobbyist.

“We’ve had truth on our side,” she said. “I’ve felt very sorry for the American people that the national press in particular did the disservice of printing rumor and innuendo as fact. That’s not what a good and informed media should be doing.”

Quayle has called his wife “my best adviser” and she has spent recent weeks crisscrossing the country on his behalf. When she hit the Horace Mann Center, her experience showed.

She spoon-fed an infant, held a young boy in red suspenders, helped a 3-year-old make a cutout scarecrow and tied a youngster’s sneakers.

The Burbank center, which has an enrollment of 135, is supported by parents’ fees and administered by the Burbank Unified School District Board. A year ago, it was disclosed that accounting mismanagement had led to a 3-year deficit of $500,000.

The board paid off the deficit and the center raised its rates, cut back on staff and adopted an aggressive marking plan that has put it in the black, said Goldie Bemel, director of the district’s child development program.

About two weeks ago, Michael S. Dukakis’ daughter, Andrea, also visited the center. So, which candidate do these much-courted kids prefer?

“Whoever comes to visit,” said Lori Rubenstein, who teaches 4-year-olds. “Their motive is to please anyone.”