Candidates' Mates Have Us Running

From trophy wives to Slick Willie, spouses factor more than ever
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 25, 2007 10:30 AM CST
Candidates' Mates Have Us Running
Republican presidential hopeful former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his wife Judith Giuliani acknowledge the crowd following his speech during a campaign stop Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)   (Associated Press)

One has a life-threatening illness. One broke up her husband's earlier marriage. Several are more charismatic, and more beloved, than their mates. Never before have candidates' spouses played such an important and unpredictable role in a presidential election, writes Emily Yoffe in the Washington Post—whether they're assets, like the articulate, passionate Michelle Obama, or liabilities, like the third Mrs. Giuliani.

In Iowa both Elizabeth Edwards and Bill Clinton have been stealing the spotlight from their supposedly better halves. The conspicuously young wives of Fred Thompson and Dennis Kucinich make them look not "more vigorous and vital but much, much older,"  Yoffe observes. And Mitt and Ann Romney seem too perfect to be real. Yoffe wishes that candidates' spouses could emulate Cécilia Sarkozy, who refused to campaign with her husband and didn't bother to vote—although that story didn't have a happy ending. (More Judith Giuliani stories.)

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