Candidates’ spouses eye role differently

The spouses of the 2008 Democratic White House hopefuls each would take a different approach to the role of first lady. Complicating the issue — one potential first lady isn’t even a lady.

The members of this club include a former president, a teacher, lawyers and even one vegan humanitarian. On the campaign trail, they are fundraisers, cheerleaders and sometimes attack their spouse’s political rivals.

Myra G. Gutin, author of “The President’s Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century,” says a president’s spouse can shape the role to suit herself, including advancing personal projects, and thus figures more prominently on the stump than ever before.

Elizabeth Edwards would seize the “megaphone” that would come with her husband becoming president. Michelle Obama would get her two daughters settled at a new school in Washington. Jill Biden would expand her literacy work and focus on preventative health. Jackie Clegg Dodd would raise awareness of childhood allergies.

Ms. Gutin notes the Democratic spouses in this cycle are more politically savvy than in the past.

Mrs. Edwards got her share of being in the national political spotlight in 2004 when former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was the vice-presidential nominee. Mrs. Obama was a successful lawyer before stepping down to help her husband, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, campaign for the presidency. She appeared on stage with Mr. Obama, then a state senator, during his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech.

Mrs. Dodd and Mrs. Biden have been senators’ spouses for decades, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s wife, Barbara, learned how to be the wife of a congressman and administration official before becoming her state’s first lady. She has been active on boards and with philanthropy.

Former President Bill Clinton — who has joked he would prefer the term “first laddie” if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York were elected — is the spouse who could potentially move into the White House in a much different role. Mrs. Clinton often jokes she could make her husband “ambassador to the world,” but voters on the campaign trail say they expect she would benefit from his close counsel if elected.

Mr. Clinton sees his potential White House role as more than a supportive husband, saying at a recent New York fundraiser he would help Mrs. Clinton select “good people” for her administration, according to the New York Daily News.

Then, he would be “trying to help sell the most important domestic initiatives within America, and trying to help solve the most thorny and delicate foreign policy problems around the world,” he reportedly said.

Some spouses are more natural politicians than others.

Mrs. Obama jokes on the stump that she has spent most of her life “trying to convince him to do something else” and to “do something reasonable” like work at a university. While Mrs. Edwards has openly called out her husband’s political foes, Mrs. Obama has played a more even tone, talking up her husband as the best choice for president.

But video footage of her making a standard campaign stump line prompted speculation last week she was trying to indirectly hit the Clintons.

The Obama campaign says the comments, which included the line “If you can’t run your own house, you certainly can’t run the White House,” were a reflection of the Obama family’s commitment to their daughters. Mrs. Obama in the video talks about her pledge to tuck in Sasha and Malia to bed each night and to model “what it means to have family values.”

At a stop in Iowa last month, Mrs. Obama expressed a nearly identical sentiment that “family is first,” saying she and Mr. Obama agreed that if he ran for president, “our children’s childhood would not be sacrificed.”

With more politically active spouses sometimes comes political danger.

Some think Mr. Clinton, impeached by the House over a sexual-misconduct lawsuit, could be a liability. Others say he is the nation’s most popular Democrat and represents an era of economic prosperity and global respect.

Sen. John Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, often created unwanted headlines for the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee — telling a reporter from a conservative Pittsburgh paper to “shove it” at the Democratic National Convention; suggesting odd health remedies such as a gin-and-raisin combo for arthritis; and saying children affected by a hurricane could “go naked.” Some Kerry supporters liked her for being outspoken, others found her abrasive.

Mrs. Edwards raised eyebrows for assailing Mr. Obama’s Iraq position as “holier than thou” in the Progressive magazine, and by saying he and Mrs. Clinton “weren’t leaders” during the recent Iraq funding fight in the Senate.

As for her role in the White House: “I think that the first lady gets a megaphone … to talk about the things she cares about,” Mrs. Edwards said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Cancer research is one of her top priorities, in part because of her public battle with the disease. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have confronted her mortality and decided to continue the presidential campaign despite her recurrence this spring. Supporters give Mrs. Edwards standing ovations and laud her as “brave.” Some Iowans commented this month on how the health challenge has taken a toll on her appearance, but Mr. Edwards said she has no symptoms.

“This is what our lives are about,” he said. “We love doing it. We love trying to change the country.”

Mrs. Obama’s White House role would include helping the couple’s daughters get settled in a new city, said spokeswoman Katie McCormick Lelyveld. “It’s impossible to predict what the country will need from their first lady, so she will be what the country needs from her when the time comes,” she said.

Mrs. Biden, married to Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, teaches English at a community college. She has spent 14 years working on the Biden Breast Health Initiative, an effort to encourage Delaware high school girls to do self-examinations.

“We have to start educating young people on all kinds of preventative health,” said Mrs. Biden, adding she “absolutely” thinks the initiative could be expanded nationally, and to such health-related topics as obesity and smoking.

Mrs. Dodd, wife of Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, said she envisions her primary role as “First Mom” taking care of the couple’s two young daughters.

“I would focus my energy on a number of issues, especially educating elderly people on handling their finances and raising awareness of childhood allergies,” she said, noting that Grace Dodd, 5, suffers from a severe nut allergy.

Elizabeth Kucinich and husband Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio have been inseparable since getting married in 2005. The couple is known for public displays of affection, and she has been spotted mouthing affectionate words to him during debates.

She worked as a humanitarian abroad and is “a tireless advocate for peace and social justice,” the Kucinich campaign says on its Web site.

This week, Mr. Kucinich says he needs to be healthy — and keep a vegan diet like his wife — to keep up with her.

“I’m 60, my wife’s 29. You draw your own conclusions,” he said.