What It's like to Be the Candidate's Wife

No, my name is not Michelle Obama or Cindy McCain, and when I was the candidates's wife, my role was vastly different from either of theirs. There were no airplane trips across the country, no hotel stays, and no new designer outfits and no make-overs. There were no cheering crowds as I introduced my husband or spoke as his substitute at large rallies. There were no television networks, newspapers or magazines clamoring for my interview, and no one asked for my favorite cookie recipe.

My husband decided to enter a county political race in 1994 with my full support. I had absolutely no political experience other than voting so my first task was reading an election manual published by one of the political parties to try to prepare for the challenge ahead.

The office my husband sought was a non-partisan position, which meant that there would be no assistance from either political party, financial or otherwise. We would be responsible for paying campaign expenses out of our family's budget without the benefit of a tax credit, a deduction or a write-off. Individuals were allowed to make small campaign contributions, and a few of our family and friends did, for which we were extremely grateful. After all was said and done, our expenses came to several thousand dollars.

At this point in time, I was the busy mom of three children and pregnant with a fourth, but I, nevertheless, tried to provide as much help as possible.

The candidate, my husband, had determined that the main issue of the campaign would be the budget. The office holder at the time had asked for numerous budget increases, and his office's budget had increased significantly during his term. Early on in the campaign, I spent several hours at the courthouse reading the minutes of the county board meetings for the past three years to determine the specific dates and amounts of budget increases requested for use in our campaign literature.

During the summer months preceding election day, my husband began the long process known as "door knocking". He would put in a full day at work and then come home and change out of his suit and into khaki pants and a short sleeved shirt. Armed with a city map and a highlighter, he left again for the important task for going door to door to introduce himself to the public and leave a brochure at each home. He would often not return until after dark.

On one of those long evenings at home while he was out campaigning, I designed a logo for his campaign which included a checkmark to signify a vote with the letter "V" from our last name. He came home late that night, looked at it, made a small modification to the design, and we used it on stickers, buttons, t-shirts, brochures and even a billboard.

Each summer in August, there's a large fair in our county. We reserved a spot for a booth at the fair and lined up friends and relatives to man the booth with the candidate. It was my job to "dress" the booth. I wasn't sure how the booth should be decorated so I loaded the three kids up in the car and drove north about 90 miles to another county's fair to see the political booths there.

Sufficiently inspired by the trip, I purchased fabric in navy with gold stars as navy was the color of the lawn signs, buttons and t-shirt for the campaign and a gold fabric for contrast. My father-in-law fashioned a counter for the booth, and I skirted the booth frame with the fabric. Campaign signs and balloons completed the booth's design. We also brought in chairs and a fan for comfort during our stay at the fair.

Running errands around town became an opportunity to scan busy streets and intersections for possible locations for lawn signs. I would then check the phone book to locate friends, relatives or even just acquaintances who lived nearby so I could ask them to place a lawn sign in these highly visible spots. Other friends and family members did the same. All told, I was granted permission to place over 200 lawn signs, a substantial portion of the numerous law signs used during the campaign.

As the yard signs sprouted like weeds on the boulevard all around the county, I sent out "thank you" postcards to people who had put the signs in their yards.

Stuffing envelopes was another of my duties as part of the campaign team. That was a big task for which we called in the "troops". On more than one occasion, a family dinner on a Sunday turned into a "stuffing" party once the meal had been eaten. Hundreds of envelopes were filled and a large mailing followed.

Six weeks before the election, I gave birth to my fourth child. Even in the delivery room, the campaign was a topic of conversation as the doctor, my husband and I awaited our son's birth. We were pleased and surprised when the obstetrician offered to put a lawn sign in his yard.

Each day, following our new baby's early morning feeding, I would venture out to the mailbox to get the newspaper. I would breathlessly scan the campaign ads, letters to the editor, and editorials for anything negative to our campaign . If all was well, I would breathe a sigh of relief. I really can't imagine how hard it would be to be the candidate's spouse in a national election where people are digging for any fact they can spin into a scandal.

By this time, election day was nearly upon us. My last task, again along with numerous family and friends, was placing "get out the vote" phone calls.

As there were no polls done on this local campaign, we really had no way of knowing how the close the race would be. People would often ask me how things were going when I was out and about, and my stock response was to put on my game face and say that things were going great.

On election night, my mother-in-law hosted a party for our faithful campaign helpers. We were all tense as we listened to the initial results on our local radio station, but the mood at the party lightened as the evening went on, and it became clear that my husband was the winner by a landslide.

As you can see, the role of a local candidate's wife is neither exciting nor glamorous. It was experience of hard work and many frustrations, but it was also a satisfying experience which I will never forget.