This summer, political spouses are suddenly hot.

	Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette
	Click illustration for larger image.

With the presidential candidates of both major parties not exactly committing real news, no matter how many debate appearances they make (unless you count Republican Mitt Romney referring to Democrat Barack Obama as "Dr. Strangelove"), the current crop of potential first ladies (and one potential first husband) are getting breathless coverage in magazines, newspapers and 24/7 cable television.

Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has been in the news for months, but in the last few weeks coverage of the other spouses has taken on tabloidesque dimensions, from a catty Vanity Fair profile of Judith Giuliani to speculation about Jeri Thompson's "trophy wife" status to Hillary Clinton's cleavage (OK, she's not the candidate's spouse, but she once was) to Cindy McCain's makeup and low-cut blouse.

Elections, of course, historically haven't been decided over candidates' spouses, but during these summer doldrums, anything goes. Plus, this particular generation of political partners is a far cry from the blandly dutiful helpmeets of yore: many are second or third wives and are, in fact, much younger -- with more colorful stories, too.

Michelle Obama
Cindy McCain
Elizabeth Edwards
Ann Romney
Bill Clinton
Judith Guiliani
Elizabeth Kucinich
Jeri Thompson
Jackie Dodd

There is a downside to all the media attention, as Mrs. Giuliani has no doubt found out. Portrayed by Vanity Fair as a social climbing, home-wrecking shopaholic who insisted on an extra airplane seat for "Baby Louis" (her Louis Vuitton bag), she's cited as the reason for the estrangement between Rudy Giuliani and his children. Efforts by Mr. Giuliani to soften the image of his third wife (he's her third husband, too, a fact that only recently came to light) haven't seemed to work. A sit-down interview with Barbara Walters, who attended the couple's 2003 wedding, drew criticism from conservatives when the couple engaged in much nuzzling throughout.

Then there's Jeri Kehn Thompson, the much-younger wife of conservative darling, almost-candidate and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, of "Law & Order'' fame. Recently, she's been portrayed as a combination trophy wife/Lady Macbeth, whose meddling in the campaign has reportedly led to the departure of several key Thompson aides.

Never mind that, by all accounts, Ms. Thompson is an experienced political professional who worked for the Republican National Committee and as a media consultant for a Washington law firm. She's also devoted to her husband, who was single for years, dating starlets and country singer Lorrie Morgan, before marrying Ms. Kehn.

But her relative youth -- she is 40, he's 64 -- and her predilection for tight, low-cut outfits, as well as a blond hairstyle more often seen on Hollywood's red carpet than in dowdy Washington, D.C., provided the perfect opening for MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough, who jokingly wondered on camera if she "works the pole." Amid cries of "inappropriate!" and "sexist!" Mr. Scarborough insisted it was all in the context of a discussion about a new exercise trend using strippers' poles.

Then there's Bill Clinton -- whoops, scratch that. We already have Too Much Information about the former president's private life, although it's still possible he could surprise us. Instead, we have Pulitzer Prize winner Robin Givhan writing about Hillary Clinton's cleavage in the Washington Post on July 20, in a story heavy with sociological language, full of such words as "objectified" "ambivalence" "desexualized" and -- oh, never mind.

"There was this pseudo-academic sheen on what would have once been condemned as sexist reporting," said Robert Lichter, professor of communications at George Mason University, of Ms. Givhan's article on Hillary Clinton's outfit on the Senate floor July 18. "The fashion beat becomes a political beat. The only problem is that it's ridiculous."

Given the long lead time of this presidential election, reporters are resorting to lots more "inside baseball" stories than in the past, he noted. The Washington Post, for example, has been writing profiles of every candidate's leading media adviser. But this particular group of spouses "represents something new going on," he added.

Two decades ago, every first lady was supposed to be "Laura Bush or Barbara Bush, and male candidates thought twice about trading in their wives for a younger model. Not any more, obviously," Mr. Lichter observed.

The May-December age difference for this crop of candidates is, in fact, striking: Fred Thompson is 24 years older than his wife, John McCain is 18 years older than his and there's an 11-year age gap between Rudy and Judith Giuliani. On the Democratic side, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, of Connecticut, is 18 years older than his wife, Jackie, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich is a whopping 31 years older than his wife, Elizabeth.

Are Republican spouses getting more flak than Democrats from the supposedly liberal media? Mr. Kucinich, after all, has been married three times and publicly trolled for dates during a previous presidential campaign. Mr. Dodd dated Bianca Jagger during his many years as a bachelor. But they're both given almost no chance to win, which may account for the lack of screaming headlines about their wives.

On the other hand, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Giuliani and Mr. McCain are vying for GOP front-runner status along with Mitt Romney -- who is the only first-tier Republican still on his first marriage, as he and his wife, Ann, have pointed out.

As a well-to-do, stay-at-home mom, Ann Romney may be the closest to the Laura Bush model of traditional first lady -- but with one big difference: She has multiple sclerosis, which humanizes what could have been a fairly staid image. After Elizabeth Edwards announced her cancer had returned, Ms. Romney called her to express her support -- and gratitude that Ms. Edwards would continue to campaign.

"As I said, 'I totally understand why you're still fighting. I totally get it,' " she said.

Clearly, Ann Romney is no Stepford wife, although she is a traditional one, and her large, photogenic family are being heavily promoted to conservative, "family values" voters. But no snarky Vanity Fair profiles of her seem to be in the works, nor of Elizabeth Edwards, who has received mostly gentle coverage, despite her outspokenness on issues. She took on conservative columnist Ann Coulter, for example, and announced her support for gay marriage.

Ms. Edwards has come under some criticism by those who believe she's calling the shots in the campaign, a notion she laughs off. But Kathleen Parker, a syndicated columnist with the Orlando Sentinel, wondered if the rap on Judith Giuliani -- she's ambitious! -- is evidence of a double standard.

"Does Elizabeth Edwards want the office less? Or are her reasons more palatable by virtue of her style? Is Michelle Obama similarly inoculated?" Ms. Parker wrote in a recent column.

Elizabeth Edwards' fierce ambition for her husband has always been obvious to those who have covered her, but it isn't her "style" that's keeping the critics at bay: The fact that she's got cancer, is John Edwards' first wife -- and not his second or third -- and doesn't wear revealing decolletage probably is.

Then again, Michelle Obama's "style" -- as a smart, no-nonsense working mother -- has clearly enraptured the East Coast media elite in a way that smart, no-nonsense working mother Jeri Thompson has not, and it may have to do not just with liberal bias but, again, cleavage: Ms. Thompson wears it often, while Ms. Obama doesn't.

Indeed, Ms. Obama was recently elected, along with Posh Spice and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to Vanity Fair's annual "Best-Dressed List."

That's not something that Ms. Thompson or, for that matter, Ms. Giuliani, for all of her Vuitton purses, can hope for anytime soon. Or, for that matter, Elizabeth Edwards, who is no clotheshorse. But, ironically, Ms. Edwards' illness, which triggered all sorts of discussions about her role in the campaign, may have been the catalyst for the current media scrutiny of other presidential spouses, says Mr. Lichter.

"That heavy coverage Elizabeth Edwards received started this narrative running about wives as political partners. And once you start look at a candidate not in isolation but as part of a family unit, you can write anything and go anywhere you want,'' he said. "Whatever these candidates' wives are, they aren't what they used to be."