This is cute.

‘Puppy killer’, ‘pole-dancer’, ’scheming’: the spouses of America’s presidential candidates are facing tough criticism and intense scrutiny as the campaign turns dirty, reports Paul Harris in New York

It is a brutal battle of whispering campaigns, gossip-laced leaks and highly disciplined PR machines. It is a world where image outweighs reality and where any sign of weakness or an unscripted gaffe could derail a bid for the White House.
The US presidential nomination process? Not exactly. Instead it is the battle royal being waged between the candidates’ spouses. As the Republican and Democratic parties are both choosing presidential candidates for 2008, never before have so many potential First Ladies - and one First Gentleman - battled it out so publicly.

In a mirror image of the candidates’ race, the fight has spawned an industry of advisers, lobbyists, hangers-on, focus groups and spin doctors. It has also provided acres of column inches for an American media that seems every bit as obsessed with the future President’s other half as it is with the next occupant of the Oval Office.
‘What’s new is that we are seeing so much coverage of the spouses so early. It is incredible,’ said Dr Myra Gutin, a professor of communication at Rider University, New Jersey, and author of several books on American First Ladies. ‘We are seeing the sort of coverage now that we would not normally see until the start of next year.’

That coverage has been colourful, to say the least. It has also shown a willingness to delve into the private lives of the spouses to a remarkable degree, turning over past husbands, ancient scandals and childhood secrets. Though, it must be said, some of the spouses on the campaign trail have certainly provided a lot of ammunition.

Judith Giuliani has been the focus of most of the negative attention so far. The third wife of the Republican frontrunner and former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, she was the subject of a lengthy profile in the celebrity bible Vanity Fair. The magazine, and several other articles, portrayed her as a scheming woman with extravagant shopping tastes who - allegedly - demanded an extra seat on the campaign plane for her Louis Vuitton shopping bag. That piece has prompted a fight back from her husband’s campaign who wheeled her out to meet several carefully chosen newspapers in order to beat off some adverse coverage.

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