It is clear from the presidential primary campaign that 2008 can
legitimately be labeled “the year of the spouse as surrogate.” The
sheer number of candidates on both sides of the aisle and the
heavily front-loaded campaign season have made using the wives—and
husband—of the candidates a “must.” Never before has media attention
been so heavily focused on the spouses. In fact, they have often
been an equal, or in some cases, bigger story than the candidates
themselves. The same pattern will characterize the spouses of the
vice presidential candidates. The bottom line is that use of
presidential and vice presidential spouses has
become an integral part of presidential campaigns. In this article,
we detail how the Bush and Kerry camps strategically scheduled
spouses in the final days of the campaign—from Labor Day until
Election Day. We conclude with some thoughts about what to expect in
2008.