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Believe it or not, presidential wannabes are at it already
But now the camera swivels unexpectedly onto Elizabeth, who looks startled, having assumed she was just wallpaper for this interview, but is tossed a little wake-up hand grenade masquerading as a question: Does she consider herself "an equal partner" with her husband? In real life there may be several good answers to this question (including "yes" and "no"), but politics is not real life, and, in fact, there is no good answer to this question politically. Answer yes and you are an overly ambitious spouse who is asking the voters to take you and your husband as a package. Answer no and you are some wimpy little cookie-baking appendage to your man.
Elizabeth opts for honesty (which many political advisers value considerably less than poison oak) and says, "I'd be very hard pressed to call myself an equal partner . . . "
John, sensing danger, interrupts her and says hurriedly, "She's an equal partner in everything."
Elizabeth gives him one of those special marital looks, one of those looks that can toast bread, and John continues, "And I would never interrupt her because I get killed when I do!"
Which is exactly the wrong thing to say. "You do not," Elizabeth says.
John, smile at full wattage now, looks into the camera and says, "But she is an equal partner in everything I do."
It is one of those amusing, frank, human moments, the kind that any married couple in America could identify with and the kind that campaigns avoid like death. Amusing, frank, human are not on the play list. Amusing, frank, human get misunderstood and end up like Hillary Clinton in 1992 saying, "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas," which got the campaign off message for several days. But now, nobody cares, nobody notices. One of these guys falls off the stage or sticks up a 7-Eleven and it might get him on the front page, but failing that, this is a low-attention time and it may very well be that they all will look back on early retail as the good old days.
Waiting for Al. Not that things behind the scenes are calm. Unless and until Al Gore decides what he is doing, the Democrats lack a front-runner, and this has meant considerable jockeying and elbowing by the others. That Edwards has been the "flavor of the week" for several weeks now helps him attract press attention, but as the Japanese say, "The nail that stands up gets beaten down."
"The problem with Edwards," one Democratic insider says, "is that he doesn't convey strength. He looks small, not big. The only thing that matters in the early days is: Do you look substantial?" (Which leads to a call to Edwards's spokesman, Mike Briggs, who is asked for Edwards's exact height. "Six feet is what his driver's license says," Briggs replies carefully.) The insider continues: "Does Edwards have the intestinal fortitude? He knows he is the most likely vice presidential choice for whoever wins. You watch: He will dabble until the spring and then pull out." Since Edwards does not admit he is running for president--"Sure, I've thought about it," is as far as he would go for U.S. News--he can hardly deny that he will someday drop out to run for vice president. But much of the behind-the-scenes discussion these days is on the No. 2 spot.
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