Spousal Politics and the Bipartisan Positioning of Hillary Rodham Clinton

Abstract

Towards the end of the first Republican Presidential debate, moderator Chris Matthews asked the candidates the following question, "Seriously, would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House?" The question, which drew laughter from the men standing at the podiums, is neither as ridiculous nor as innocuous as it may at first appear. The former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, responded with a question of his own, an incredulous "You've got to be kidding?". By way of elaboration Matthews, who had asked the question with a straight face, replied "No, I'm not. His wife's running — have you heard?" It can be argued that such a question, and Matthews's subsequent point of clarification, set the tone for the ways in which the complex issue of gender will be handled in the 2008 Presidential Election. With that single inquiry into the candidates' thoughts on Bill Clinton, Matthews at once evoked the most powerful Democratic candidate, and the party frontrunner, without mentioning her name or asking the Republicans to engage with her as a political rival. Instead, Hillary Rodham Clinton was relegated to that role which has been for years her greatest source of political and personal trouble — Bill Clinton's wife.