Politics, family style: Plenty of sons and daughters on the stump for GOP candidates
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with his wife, Ann, (in white), children and grandchildren on primary night last week in New Hampshire. The Romneys have five sons and 16 grandchildren. -
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, accompanied by his family, speaks during a campaign stop in West Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month. -
Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, right, with his wife, Anita, and son, Griffin, during a campaign stop in Dover, N.H. His son has been taking to social media to help the campaign. -
Jon Huntsman's wife, Mary Kaye, and daughters Liddy, Mary Anne and Abby, last week in New Hampshire. His daughters were particularly active campaigning for their father on Twitter. Mr. Huntsman has since withdrawn as a candidate for the GOP nomination.
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Rick Santorum? Seven. Mitt Romney, five. Ron Paul, five. Jon Huntsman, seven. Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich? Two and two. Michele Bachmann, three gazillion -- well, five or 28 depending on how you're counting.
We're not talking point spreads in polls, but children. This year especially, fertility appears to be a political asset, with more children of Republican presidential candidates on the campaign trail, it seems, than voters. At one point in the race, you could count 33 among the seven contenders, not even including Ms. Bachmann's 23 foster children.
Even as the field was winnowed to five this week when Mr. Huntsman dropped out, there are still plenty of political progeny left. There's nothing like a minivan or two full of kids to help with the photo-ops, star in campaign ads, door knocking and -- these days -- using Twitter and other social media to advocate for the cause.
"Has seven children -- one from India, one from China," crowed an early Huntsman campaign ad.
Does size really matter? Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- each with two children -- are still persevering with their campaigns.
But there is no denying that there are larger families out on the campaign stump this year. As the GOP's base has steadily moved to the right, candidates who are socially conservative, both in their political views and religious affiliations, flooded the field to oppose President Barack Obama (father of two).
Both Mr. Romney and Mr. Huntsman are highly active in the Mormon Church, and Mr. Santorum is a staunch Catholic. Both religions are intensely family centered; the Mormon faith calls on its adherents to "replenish and multiply," whereas Pope Pius XII called large families the "most blessed by God."
Still, Conan O'Brien has noted that the GOP presidential wannabees seem particularly kid-obsessed this year, airing a series of clips by the GOP candidates announcing how many children they had -- with Ron Paul, an obstetrician, topping them all by announcing, "I've delivered more than 4,000 babies."
"The second you put a brochure out there with your family and dog, you present yourself as a family-values candidate," Doug Heye, former communications director for the Republican National Committee, told Roll Call. "It can be a positive thing. It's another surrogate, but it's the best kind of surrogate that a candidate can have because it comes from a person that knows the candidate in a way that most don't."
Decades ago, the Kennedys used their large clan to great effect, but it's probably safe to say that the younger Kennedy generations have not reproduced at the same rate. There are, however, still a few notably large Democratic families out there, including newly elected Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, whose eight attractive, mostly red-headed children were featured in his ads and on the campaign trail.
Large families are effective imagery in politics, say political experts, especially for conservatives, sending a potent message -- I am a father/family man; I am supermom. I don't believe in abortion. My kids are well-mannered and obedient; they're not out smoking dope or protesting at Occupy Wall Street.
"Visual cues matter. Candidates like to present their families as evidence that they've done a good job on child rearing and their kids have turned out OK. Voters who think they've done job rearing their children will do a good job running the country," said Darrell West, vice president of governance at the nonprofit Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
The sight of all those children lined up behind mom or dad giving a concession/victory speech can be heartbreaking or heartwarming -- who can forget the sight of Mr. Santorum's daughter Sarah Maria, clutching a doll and weeping when he lost his Senate seat in 2006?
Some believe large families are narcissistic and unethical in a world struggling with overpopulation and increasingly scarce resources.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, an outspoken social commentator and father of nine, noted on a blog at WorldNetDaily in 2006 that "the contempt shown to parents of many children is the last acceptable prejudice in our society. ... As a father of a large family, I find myself apologizing wherever I go, as if I committed a crime."
"People who have a lot of children, that represents a certain values system," he later told The Daily Beast. "They love kids and love what kids represent," he told me. "When I see parents who have made the time for children, that's something I respect."
Large families often evoke nostalgia for a more ordered existence, when densely populated households required everyone to pitch in and do chores or baby-sit the younger ones: In the 1800s, the average American family had five to seven children, today it's two.
"Cheaper by the Dozen," the classic book by efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth Jr., isn't exactly on the best-seller lists these days, and the heartwarming television images of "The Waltons" and "The Partridge Family" have been replaced, more bizarrely, by Octomom and her brood of 14 or Jon and Kate Gosselin squabbling among their eight.
Still, Rick and Karen Santorum -- whose children range in age from 3 to 20 -- went on what they called an "epic" family tour as they barreled across Iowa this summer.
"Candidates only have a certain amount of time to travel the country, but if they have a spouse or older children they can double, triple or quadruple the number of campaign appearances," Mr. West said.
"Family members are authentic because they can speak about the personal and policy side about a candidate. Voters want to know the human side of an individual."
With increased numbers and visibility also come the risk of mistakes by would-be presidential sons or daughters. Just after Sarah Palin was picked to be John McCain's running mate in 2008, the news broke that her daughter Bristol was having a baby out of wedlock. There can be more trouble even after mom or dad have stopped campaigning: Ms. Palin's 16-year-old daughter Willow made anti-gay slurs on Facebook in 2010, and Meghan McCain twittered about her breasts in 2009.
It doesn't really matter how large the family is to be an effective surrogate on social media. Griffin Perry, the 28-year-old son of Rick Perry, is currently enlivening his father's campaign with some barbed tweets, belittling Mr. Santorum's sweater vests and noting that "Mitt Romney knows how to lead ... Lead people straight out the door with a pink slip."
The three oldest Huntsman girls were, perhaps, the most skilled at social media during their father's presidential run. On their Twitter account, @jon2012girls, when not soliciting advice on where to find the best margarita at any particular campaign stop, they linked to his interviews and promoted updates: "Dad gets high endorsement in the low country! Check it out."
It may be over for the Huntsman clan this year, but on their last tweet, the Huntsman daughters promised they'd be back -- in 2016 or beyond:
"Many flames burn out in politics, our Dad's has just been ignited. What an incredible journey for our family. Thanks for all the support!"
Who knows how large the Huntsman clan could be by then?
First Published January 18, 2012 12:00 am
