Will Her Face Determine His Fortune?

The NYTimes reports:

As the election of 2008 approaches with its cast of contenders who bring unprecedented diversity to the quest for the White House, the voting public has been called on to ponder several questions: Is America ready for a woman to be president? What about a black man? A Mormon?

Now, with the possible candidacy of Fred D. Thompson, the grandfatherly actor and former Republican senator from Tennessee, whose second wife is almost a quarter-century his junior, comes a less palatable inquiry that is spurring debate in Internet chat rooms, on cable television and on talk radio: Is America ready for a president with a trophy wife?

The question may seem sexist, even crass, but serious people — as well as Mr. Thompson’s supporters — have been wrestling with the public reaction to Jeri Kehn Thompson, whose youthfulness, permanent tan and bleached blond hair present a contrast to the 64-year-old man who hopes to win the hearts of the conservative core of the Republican party. Will the so-called values voters accept this union?

Mr. Thompson, who needs the support of early primary voters, is expected to formally announce his candidacy any day now. Meanwhile, much of the brouhaha around Mrs. Thompson, 40, is being stirred by photos of her in form-fitting gowns circulating on the Internet.

“You have a situation where a candidate happens to have an attractive wife, therefore it’s open season for smutty thoughts and lowbrow humor, and no concern for the fact that this is a wife and mother, a professional woman?” said Mark Corallo, a former Justice Department official who is a consultant and the chief media adviser to the Thompson campaign. “One picture on the Internet and all of a sudden she’s reduced to being a bimbo?”

On a morning cable news show last month, Joe Scarborough, the commentator and former Republican congressman from Florida, compared Mrs. Thompson to a stripper. The comment came after a segment on the use of stripper poles in exercise routines, but it still stung. It is hard to imagine a man, however handsome, suffering similar insult.

THE term “trophy wife” was coined by Fortune magazine in 1989 and immediately entered the language. Although it often has a pejorative spin, the term originally meant the second (or third) wife of a corporate titan, who was younger, beautiful and — equally important — accomplished in her own right, which describes Mrs. Thompson.

She is a former Senate aide and a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. And she is not a home wrecker. Mr. Thompson had been divorced from his first wife for almost two decades before he remarried in 2002.

But so far it is her youth and appearance that have trumped her résumé. It is unclear how that reality will play out with voters.

“It’s unprecedented so it’s almost unpredictable,” said Susan J. Carroll, a professor of political science at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. “I think it depends a lot on how the campaign deals with it, and how she and Thompson deal with it.”

So far, they have not dealt with it, which is perhaps fueling the fire of speculation. Both Thompsons declined requests for interviews about their marriage. The details of Mrs. Thompson’s résumé have not been officially distributed. And unlike other potential presidential spouses like Elizabeth Edwards and Michelle Obama, Mrs. Thompson lets her husband do most of the political talking. In public appearances recently, her most dramatic statements have been sartorial, like gold-lamé wedge sandals on a campaign stop, or a plunging neckline for a Washington dinner.

She will not be able to avoid the spotlight once her husband declares his candidacy. Will she be a help or a hindrance?

Frank Luntz, the consultant who helped write the language of the Contract With America, a manifesto of conservative principles that helped the Republicans win the House of Representatives in 1994, falls into the “no consequence” contingent.

“The spouse of the candidate matters in less than 1 out of 100 votes,” Mr. Luntz said. “It’s not relevant. It will have no impact whatsoever.”

Fred and Jeri Kehn Thompson with their daughter, Hayden.

Her style could, of course, help him. The Thompsons’ young daughter and infant son also help humanize the candidate as a family man. (Mr. Thompson has adult children from a previous marriage.)

On the Web site Footballguystalk.com, Mr. Thompson not only won votes thanks to his wife, but one anonymous poster said, “I think he’s my new idol!”

Fred D. Thompson, 64, and his wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson, 40.

Mr. Thompson’s supporters, on their Web site draftthompson08.blogspot.com, put it this way: “It couldn’t hurt diplomatic relations to have a smart, pretty blonde as first lady.”

But that comment was quickly attacked. One writer described the May-December marriage as “gross,” while others said Mrs. Thompson was an outright liability.

Political analysts said there is very little evidence to suggest that candidates’ spouses affect their electoral outcomes. But one political scientist, Karen O’Connor, the director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University, said Mr. Thompson may lose with one key group whose support he needs: Republican women.

“I think women have an innate ‘ick’ reaction when they see a wife so much younger and vital than her husband,” Professor O’Connor said.

Wes Thornburg, a Republican financier in Chicago who has not yet committed himself to a candidate, said that Mr. Thompson has an issue that could be the envy of every campaign.

“If I were in his camp, I would love for this to be the main criticism from the press or opposition because it’s so easy to defend,” Mr. Thornburg said. “He’ll come back and say, ‘It’s not that unusual and the key is we have a great marriage.’ The determinate issues will be defense, taxes and his ability to communicate.”

It is too early to know what kind of role Mrs. Thompson would play in a Thompson administration. Or, for that matter, what role any other first lady or first gentleman would play.

“In all likelihood we’re going to have something quite different as a presidential spouse this time,” Professor Carroll said, “whoever wins.”