Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley says you wouldn't want to play a pick-up basketball game with Mitt Romney. 
 
 Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association pushed back on the assertion that President Barack Obama is running an overwhelming negative, personal campaign. 
 
 "Gov. Romney's just sort of a guy that you never want to play pick-up basketball with," O'Malley said. "He's always fouling, and he's always crying foul." 
 
 Appearing on behalf of Republican Mitt Romney's campaign, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, deflected questions about Romney's reluctance to release multiple years of tax returns. 
 
 McDonnell likened O'Malley's charges on tax returns to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's "reckless and slanderous remarks" that are "below the dignity" of the American people. 
 
 Read more about: Bob McDonnell, Mitt Romney, Basketball, Meet The Press, Martin O'Malley 

 President Barack Obama's deputy campaign manager said Sunday that Vice President Joe Biden's "chains" comment was a "distraction from the larger point" he was trying to make. 
 
 "Let's look at what the vice president said. Speaker [John] Boehner and even Paul Ryan have been traveling this country talking about the need to unshackle the private sector, to unshackle the financial industry," Stephanie Cutter said on CNN's "State of the Union." "And the vice president was just taking that metaphor a step further and talking about wanting to put other people in shackles. And the word that he used, chains, is a distraction from the larger argument." 
 
 Cutter then turned her fire to Republican rival Mitt Romney for the former Massachusetts governor's "poor choices of words." 
 
 "If we want to talk about words on the campaign trail that are poor choices of words, let's talk about Mitt Romney's: When he's been traveling for the last few years basically calling the president un-American, that the president wanted to make this a less Christian nation," Cutter said. "Those are poor choices of words, and that's what we find completely offensive. So this faux outrage by Mitt Romney complaining and whining about the tone of this race is really completely hypocritical." 
 
 "I mean, even his own opponents during the Republican primary said — Rick Santorum said the only way Mitt Romney is winning is because hes bludgeoning them with lies," she added. 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Stephanie Cutter 

 Former Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum on Sunday called the tone of President Barack Obama's reelection campaign "divisive." 
 
 "I don’t get the sense that Gov. [Mitt] Romney’s complaining about negative attacks — I think he’ll tell you as much as anybody else: You’re in a political race; you're going to take your blows, go after each other; and that's all fair game," Santorum said on CNN's "State of the Union." "I think what he's talking about is the tone of the Obama campaign, which is divisive." 
 
 "It's one thing to go out and attack Gov. Romney on his record, fair game, go for it," Santorum continued. "But to do what he’s doing as far as dividing this country, and it's class warfare at its worst." 
 
 Santorum said Vice President Joe Biden was "play[ing] the race card" in Virginia with his "chains" comment last week. 
 
 "Y'all? I mean, 'y'all' is 'y'all,' and I've been in groups like that, and you know, it's very easy when you're in a group of people, when you're in the South or up in different areas of the country and different groups of people, you develop an affinity with the group you're speaking in front of." 
 
 Biden, Santorum said, was "trying to develop that affinity, and he did so in a very horrendous way, and he should apologize for it." 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum 

 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is sticking to his promise to release two years of tax returns — but that's it, senior campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said Sunday. 
 
 "Mitt Romney has said he'll put out two years of tax returns. He put out his 2010 return — hundreds of pages of tax return information — that’s on the website," Fehrnstrom said. "He’ll put out his 2011 returns once it's complete and filed; he's had financial disclosures going back to 2002, when he was governor of Massachusetts. Those, too, can be found on Mitt Romney's website. 
 
 But the issue of Romney's returns, Fehrnstrom said, is ultimately a distraction. 
 
 "Taxes are not an issue," he said. "It's not what the American people are talking about." 
 
 Read more about: Mitt Romney, Tax Returns, Eric Fehrnstrom 

 Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Sunday questioned whether Vice President Joe Biden has the "balance" to be president. 
 
 "Oh, no, I don't think he's nuts. I'm just saying I wonder if he's got the kind of balance — probably what I should have said is the balance to be president of the United States," Giuliani said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "This guy is like one gaffe after another, and he's a — he's a joke on late-night television. I think they've also locked him in his room for the rest of the campaign. I think the president scolded him, and ... I mean, it's been one strange incident after another, telling a man in a wheelchair to stand up. I don't know what's going on with him, but somebody should explain it." 
 
 Last week, Giuliani said, in response to Biden's "chains" remark that the vice president had become a "joke" and is "not that bright." 
 
 He also told host Bob Schieffer that there's an inherent unfairness about the way the media cuts Biden a break. 
 
 "If this was [Dick] Cheney or Sarah Palin or Dan Quayle, my goodness, all you guys on television would be going crazy about how could he say this, and what's wrong with him?" he asked. "Maybe I was just trying to even up the score a little bit. I do think there are some serious questions." 
 
 Read more about: Joe Biden, Rudy Giuliani, Face The Nation
– Joe Biden's "chains" gaffe rippled all the way to the Sunday talk show dial, Politico reports, with Rudy Giuliani backing off his earlier charge that the veep is "not that bright," but very much questioning whether he's got what it takes. "I don't think he's nuts," conceded Giuliani, but "I wonder if he's got the kind of balance" to be president. "This guy is like one gaffe after another, and he's a joke on late-night television. I think they've also locked him in his room for the rest of the campaign." Not so fast, countered Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, citing GOP talking points about "unshackling" the financial industry. Biden "was just taking that metaphor a step further," she said. "And the word he used, chains, is a distraction from a larger argument." And on the subject of poor choices of words, Cutter again: "Let's talk about Mitt Romney's: When he's been basically calling the president un-American, (saying) that the president wanted to make this a less Christian nation. That's what we find completely offensive. So this faux outrage by Mitt Romney complaining and whining about the tone of this race is really completely hypocritical." Rick Santorum on Obama 2012: "It's one thing to go out and attack Gov. Romney on his record, fair game, go for it. But to do what he’s doing as far as dividing this country, and it's class warfare at its worst." Further, Biden was just playing "the race card." Martin O'Malley on Romney: "Gov. Romney's just sort of a guy that you never want to play pick-up basketball with. He's always fouling, and he's always crying foul." Romney rep Eric Fehrnstrom on those pesky tax returns: "Mitt Romney has said he'll put out two years of tax returns. He put out his 2010 return—that’s on the website. He’ll put out his 2011 returns once it's complete and filed." And that's that. "Taxes are not an issue."