Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Iron Laws of Politics (Candidate's Spouse Edition)

Back to Heillemann/Halperin: I do have one sort of context-setting thing to add, which is that in all campaigns I've every been involved in and all campaigns I've ever heard about, the staff hate the spouse.  I've heard of campaigns in which the staff liked and respected the candidate and some in which the staff hated and had contempt for the candidate, but as far as I know the staff just about always thinks of every candidate's spouse as a meddling, overbearing, pain-in-the-ass.

That's not to say that the various things attributed to Bill, Cindy, Elizabeth, and the rest in the new book are necessarily wrong...I'd just caution people to understand the context.  If you try to dig for dirt about the candidates' spouses from staff, odds are you'll find it (with an exception for current First Ladies, since the incentives for talking are different.  But dollars to doughnuts Obama's staff found her meddling and overbearing, too).. 

Anyone with campaign experience want to confirm or contradict this one from personal experience?  Comments are open!

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