Femme Fettle: Political spouses, siblings storm US campaign

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">WASHINGTON: Behind every successful man there is...oh you’ve heard that line alright.<br /><br />No female has ever become the US president in the country’s 228 years of modern history, but the influence of political spouses and offspring has never been greater. The female factor could well tip this presidential race one way or the other.<br /><br />President Bush’s wife Laura is drawing star billing, easily eclipsing Teresa Heinz Kerry.Her popularity – Americans prefer her more than two to one over Teresa – has given Bush a definite edge.<br /><br />Add to that the winsome Bush twins, and the party on the right has set its faithful alight.<br /><br />John Kerry’s wife Teresa Heinz Kerry and daughters Vanessa and Alexandra are also working hard for husband/dad, but the White House incumbents have hogged the limelight.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />The spouses have been gracious to each other in public even though a minor kerfuffle startled the political throng yesterday. Teresa Kerry worked up a storm in the campaign cup after wondering in an interview whether Laura Bush every held a ''''real job.''''<br /><br />She apologized quickly for her contretemps after presumably being reminded by aides that the First Lady has a master’s degree in library science and worked as a school teacher and a librarian (which is when Bush met her -- at a barbecue, not as a bibliophile).<br /><br />On Thursday, Laura Bush gracefully waved away questions about Teresa Kerry’s goof-up. ''''It doesn''t matter to me. It was perfectly all right. She apologized and she didn''t even really need to apologize,'''' she said, thus earning even more goodwill all round.<br /><br />Pundits have wondered of Teresa, heiress to the Heinz ketchup fortune, is too saucy for the delicate business of public speaking during a campaign.<br /><br />She recently asked a journalist to ''''shove it'''' for asking a tough question. She then told heckler at a rally that Bush''s re-election would lead to ''''four more years of hell.''''<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal"><br />In a story headlined ''''Heinz Kerry, No Mother Teresa,'''' <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">National Review Online</span> said Teresa’s step-daughters called her ''''Step Money,'''' a reference to her fabulous fortune.<br /><br />But the Democratic faithful see her as a strong and intellectually vibrant woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. A recent study by Pew Research showed that the traditional female support for Democrats is intact, with women favouring Kerry 51 to 41 per cent over Bush.<br /><br />However, the younger male crowd is all atwitter over the Bush twins – or at last the more glamorous one. In an <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Esquire</span> magazine poll for ''''Hottest daughter of a presidential candidate,'''' the top honours went to the blonde Jenna Bush (38 per cent), with Barbara Bush and Alexandra Kerry tied for second at 24 per cent, and Vanessa Kerry at 13 per cent.<br /><br />In line with the findings, the ‘hottie’ twins hung out with student athletes at the University of Miami in Florida (a crucial battleground state) where a whooping crowd of ‘collegiates’ signaled their approval.<br /><br />Vanessa Kerry, a Yale graduate and currently on leave from Harvard Medical School and enrolled in a global health course at the London School of Economics, was campaigning for her father in Iowa.</div> </div>