January 19, 2016

Candidate’s Spouse Is a Secret Weapon

A brief history of a bad cliche.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/veni/3114493230/in/photolist-5KdAk9-5K9fPD-578yRB-D3WVrq-CE1Lep-CE1KAv-Cg8i88-CE1L4z-D3WW2U-Cg1a3W-CE1KtM-DdvStV-CE1KfF-BT1aGT-CLoKLw-DdvRVa-D6ebKM-5KdBkJ-6ge2bb-Pevas-4D3oDR-bqssJQ-6q5xG6-6q5ymF-6q5zac-6q9HhS-6q9H81-6q9HdG-bqssMW-65bNoG-PevUf-Pevuh-Pf2SB-Pf3yc-4D7Coo-4D7JNU-4D7ERG-4D7Kjj-4D7KM5-4D3vak-4D7HMj-4D7DUN-4D3o98-4D3rrr-4D7BQW-4D7Eqb-4D3qZ6-4D3qyg-4D7Jjd-4D7HdL">Veni</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Hillary Clinton was nodding to tradition when she jokingly referred to her husband Bill, the former president of the United States, as her “secret weapon.” Puff pieces that describe a candidate’s spouse as the campaign’s “secret weapon” are as much a part of presidential campaigns as kissing babies and self-important Iowans.

Here is a brief history of a bad cliche:

Jane Sanders

 

The Week

Heidi Cruz

Reuters

Columba Bush

The Hill

Melania Trump

CNN

Neither of Trump’s two previous wives are considered secret weapons by the political press, but his daughter, Ivanka—whom Trump has said he would consider marrying if they weren’t related—is:

Ivanka Trump

Daily Mail

Kelley Paul

CNN

Anita Perry

MSNBC

Mary Kaye Huntsman

Houston Chronicle

Carol Paul

Wall Street Journal

Callista Gingrich

New York Times

Karen Santorum

CNN

Michelle Obama

Christian Science Monitor

Ann Romney

US News and World Report

Cindy McCain

Los Angeles Times

Todd Palin

Washington Times

Jill Biden

Vogue

Teresa Heinz Kerry

Boston Globe

Elizabeth Edwards

McClatchy

“Edwards has been variously described as her husband’s ‘stealth fighter’ or ‘bulletproof cannon’ or ‘the most interesting person in the presidential race right now,'” McClatchy reported. “If not the dominant voice, Elizabeth Edwards has become the most provocative one.”

Judy Dean

Cox Newspapers

Laura Bush

Baltimore Sun

In a dig at previous secret weapons, the Baltimore Sun reported that Bush had the added benefit of not being fully weaponized: “[t]he candidate’s wife, who said one day she hoped to see a woman president, was careful not to sell herself as a striving political wannabe or a back-room adviser to her husband.”

Tipper Gore

Lawrence Journal-World

In addition to his wife, Tipper, Al Gore had a second secret weapon—his oldest daughter, Karenna. It’s a wonder he ever lost:

Daily Mail

Ernestine Bradley

New York Magazine

New York Magazine described the wife of the New Jersey Democrat as “slight, with birdlike features and luminous blue eyes,” with “a waifish, spritelike appearance” that gives the air of “a Teutonic Audrey Hepburn.”

Barbara Bush

New York Times

Hillary Clinton

Los Angeles Times

Elizabeth Dole

King Features

Just about the only major candidate for president or vice president whose spouse was not considered a “secret weapon” was Dick Cheney’s wife, Lynne. Obviously Dick Cheney’s secret weapon is a shotgun.

 

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate