Voters don’t make decisions based on a candidate’s spouse. But when a man runs for president, his wife plays an important role as validator, as character witness, testifying to the human qualities behind the poll-tested speeches and slickly produced videos.
No one knows him better, so no one can speak with more authority. As Rick Santorum’s wife, Karen, put it during the Wisconsin primary: “You always hear the other side of the candidates, and I think it’s also just really nice when the spouses give a more personal perspective, a window into our lives.”
Karen probably won’t get the chance to talk about her husband much longer; unless Mitt Romney gets creamed by his own campaign bus, Santorum won’t be the Republican nominee. But America will be hearing a great deal from Ann Romney this fall.
Her husband has tried — and failed repeatedly — to come across as a warm, approachable person who understands ordinary folks and their problems. That’s why his wife has to make the case for him.
Most people don’t vote based on a checklist of issues. They want an emotional connection with their candidate. Feelings are as important as facts. And Romney’s compassion gap is particularly damaging among female voters. In the latest USA Today/Gallup poll of 12 swing states, President Obama leads Romney by 18 points among women (and only one point among men).
Team Romney understands this and is deploying Ann more often and on more platforms, from TV and radio shows to public rallies and campaign videos. “She rounds him out,” Romney adviser Tom Rath told Politico. “You live with a guy for 40 years and you’re qualified to speak to what kind of man he is.” Adds GOP strategist Alex Castellanos: “His link to the base doesn’t come from ideology. It comes from family values channeled through Ann.”
Wives can be a tricky business. Bill Clinton was not particularly successful selling Hillary as co-president, and her stewardship of health-care reform in the White House was a disaster. (Once she stepped out of Bill’s shadow — first in the Senate and then in Obama’s Cabinet — she’s been America’s most-admired woman for the last 10 years, according to Gallup.)
Laura Bush (still the sixth most-admired woman) is a better model for Ann Romney. She highlighted her husband’s human side by helping George overcome his penchant for alcohol and then softened his warrior image in the White House by becoming “comforter in chief.”
