Wives bring contrasting stories, styles to Democratic ticket

[Justice]

According to the Kerry campaign, the two women have become fast friends since Edwards got the vice presidential nod last week.

Individually, each woman could attract voters from different social strata -- Southerners, immigrants, professionals, artists -- or they could cancel out each other. Like their spouses, Edwards and Heinz Kerry present a more complex picture than the baby boomer modernism conveyed by Hilary Clinton and Tipper Gore in 1992, an aura that helped Bill Clinton contrast himself with the older George H.W. Bush. Many Americans are just now getting a first glimpse of the two new Democratic spouses, and it remains to be seen how the two women will affect voters' impressions of the Kerry candidacy.

Asked about the new partnership Sunday on the CBS News program "60 Minutes," Elizabeth Edwards said: "I think we need to start looking for silver anniversary gifts. This is a marriage that's working."

Heinz Kerry, interviewed on the same program, added, "All we've done is laugh and have a good time."

"When you're happy and when you feel good chemistry, and you're at ease with yourself and those around you, and have good energy and all that, you laugh," she said. "It's therapeutic, and it's happy."

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/07/14/wives_bring_contrasting_stories_styles_to_democratic_ticket/