Voters seeing more outspoken political spouses (Elizabeth Edwards)

Voters seeing more outspoken political spouses
By Ellen Wulfhorst--Reuters
Friday, July 27, 2007
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Elizabeth Edwards has emerged as an outspoken, tenacious partner in her husband's White House bid, an illustration of what experts predict will be a growing trend of spouses taking active, autonomous and even combative roles in campaign politics.

The wife of former Sen. John Edwards, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, in recent weeks has wrangled with right-wing pundit Ann Coulter, challenged U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton on women's issues and disagreed publicly with her husband.

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But lately she's been making a different type of headline -- publicly asking Coulter to stop making personal attacks on her husband and taking a position supporting gay marriage at odds with her husband's views.

"It's not the only thing we disagree about," her husband, a former North Carolina senator, said afterward. "She actually says what she thinks."

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Elizabeth Edwards stars in a new campaign ad for her husband in New Hampshire and most recently said in an online magazine that her husband would be better than Clinton as a champion of women's rights. That prompted a public defense of Clinton by her spouse, former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Edwards' campaign capitalized on the Coulter exchange with a fund-raising drive that prompted a burst of donations, while the debate over women's issues comes as the Edwards campaign is struggling for female support.
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The spotlight on Elizabeth Edwards can help her husband spar with Clinton in the front-running tier of Democratic candidates, said Lisa Linden, a partner in Linden Alschuler & Kaplan public relations who has worked on political campaigns.

"You have Hillary Clinton as the candidate with the most interesting spouse, and you have John Edwards as the candidate with the other most interesting spouse," Linden said. "She is a profile in courage. She cuts across ideological lines. Everyone wishes her well."

Critics say Edwards risks outshining her husband. On Fox News, conservative commentator Fred Barnes said Edwards has been "emasculated" by his wife.
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/07/27/voters_seeing_more_outspoken_political_spouses/

I think she is an amazing woman.

affable, as well as attractive.

Hillary Clinton as a candidate spouse had many of the same qualities.

stuff that Edwards has the press would be so damn critical....So if a spuse can say stuff then is not Bill a spouse and he should eb able to say stuff too, and not have any backlash from the msm.....but they are the liberal media and they would never be mean spirited towards Bill, right....BS!

I do thank you
Ben David