The Increasing Role Of Political Spouses

Whenever a politician declares for the presidency, two people can expect to be put under the microscope: the candidate and the candidate's spouse. CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell reports that events this week only serve to underscore that reality.

John Edwards went to Las Vegas this weekend to talk about his plan for health care, but her new battle with cancer made this more then just another stump speech.

"I'm proud to have my wife Elizabeth with me here today," the former Senator told the crowd. "She'll be with me every step of the way."

It's a surprise twist in a presidential election where spouses have become central campaign characters sooner than ever before.

"It seems very early for there to be this much pressure on candidate spouses and appearing as a couple," said Elizabeth Mehren, a professor of communications at Boston University.

"The increasing length of time that these national campaigns are running under now, and the concentration of these early primary states for nomination, the spouses are just critical to the campaign," said Sarah Brewer of American University's Women & Politics Institute.

Michelle Obama – at first apprehensive – is winning over audiences. Anne Romney kept a low profile when Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, but not anymore, despite her Multiple Sclerosis. And Cindy McCain is along for a ride on Senator John McCain's Straight Talk Express much earlier than she was in 2000.

"Now, there she is sitting next to him – grinning from ear to ear, hair perfect, looking adoring," Mehren said.

Then there's the super spouse: Bill Clinton. The former president is a fundraising machine who has raised more than two million dollars for his wife over the past week alone.

"If he blinks he raises money, and I don't see how anyone can compete with that," Mehren said.

Traditionally, spouses of presidential candidates worked behind the scenes early in campaigns. Back in 1908, Helen Nellie Taft had White House meetings with Teddy Roosevelt demanding he anoint her husband William Howard Taft as the nominee of the Republican Party.

"And Roosevelt finally looked her in the face and said, 'I think you are the one ambitious for the presidency'," said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, a historian of presidential families.

In modern campaigns a message of two for the price of one is generally tolerated, if not accepted.

"There's been an increased expectation in an even more substantive role the spouse will provide," Brewer said, "not just in the campaign but also in the administration."

But there's risk too for candidates with complicated families – like Rudy Giuliani. His wife Judy is a favorite of gossip columns.

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"It's tough to be a third wife on a good day of the week, but its pretty tough to be a third wife when your husband is running for president," Mehren said.

The challenges that lay ahead for these women – and man – will be a compelling plot line of the 2008 campaign. In one case, it could be a life and death struggle.

"This moment right now with Elizabeth Edwards really does show the significance of the spouse," Brewer said.