Can Divorce Hurt a Presidential Hopeful? By Eleanor Clift and Sarah Childress
Newsweek
March 26, 2007 issue - Most jokes that politicians tell don't make you laugh because they're too carefully calculated to be funny. Mitt Romney tells one that's carefully calculated and funny. "I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman," he recently told an audience of conservative Republicans. "And a woman, and a woman and a woman."
Polygamy humor is pretty risqué, at least for a Mormon. And that's just the point. The line works because it allows Romney to poke fun at his biggest political liability: many evangelical voters he'll need to win the nomination strongly reject the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and are wary of Romney himself. The church may have abandoned the practice of polygamy long ago, but to a lot of people, it's still the first thing that comes to mind when Mormonism is raised. By bringing the subject into the open, Romney breaks the tension in the room.
Yet there's another message slyly tucked into that punch line: a reminder to "values voters" that among the leading GOP presidential candidates, only Romney has maintained a single happy marriage—to one woman for 37 years. The other top contenders, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain, are both divorced and remarried. McCain left his first wife and married his current spouse, Cindy. Giuliani is on his third marriage, to Judith Nathan. Compare that with Romney, who met his wife, Ann, when they were children. He introduces her as his "sweetheart"; their family photo album is Ozzie-and-Harriet wholesome. "His family is all kinds of clean," says Bill Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts. "Their five boys are central casting. The grandchildren are central casting. The grounds of their house are immaculate."
But Romney's squeaky-clean home life alone may not be enough to give him an advantage over his rivals. In a country where nearly half of all marriages collapse, divorce is not necessarily a political disqualifier—even among conservative Christians. "I don't think there's an evangelical family in the country that hasn't been touched by divorce," says Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention.In the new NEWSWEEK Poll, only 5 percent of evangelicals said they would not vote for a candidate who had divorced. Rhonda Kelley, a professor of women's ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, says evangelicals can forgive mistakes. "I'm looking for a willingness to say, 'Hey look, I blew it. I am so sorry' ... Being willing to admit fault is a mark of maturity in a leader." That would seem to be good news for McCain, who has taken responsibility for his failed first marriage and remains on good terms with his ex-wife.
Evangelical Republicans might not be as forgiving of Giuliani, who played out his ugly second divorce in the tabloids and reportedly has a strained relationship with his son, Andrew, and daughter, Caroline. The NEWSWEEK Poll showed that 26 percent of respondents would not vote for a candidate who was involved in a nasty public divorce, and 43 percent said they wouldn't support a politician who'd had extramarital affairs. (Of course Giuliani, who supports abortion and gay rights, has other troubles with evangelicals.) Newt Gingrich, another Republican mulling a possible White House run, has tried to soften that resistance. Now on his third marriage, he admitted to cheating in the past and recently asked forgiveness for "moral failings."
When in doubt, Republican candidates can always look to Ronald Reagan. Though he divorced his first wife and had difficult relationships with his children, he was a hero to evangelicals. "He was able to look them in the eyes," says American University historian Allan Lichtman, "and say, 'I'm one of you'."With Lisa Miller And Holly Bailey
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