John and Elizabeth Edwards. Rielle Hunter. And a marriage poll.
We just could not resist this.
For the very first time in its 14-month, 2,800-item history The Ticket is republishing an item. It was first published in this space on Oct. 15.
It concerned a Ladies' Home Journal poll of 502 women about which prominent politician at the time had the "happiest marriage." By now, you may have guessed which couple won that poll competition.
It's the same couple -- or at least husband -- who's been prominent in the news the last couple of days, but not for happy things, as The Ticket has reported here and here and here and here and here.
Anyway, they may be fun to read at the time. But let this be a lesson to all of us about how much stock to put in polls like this involving public perceptions of private affairs, er, matters.
The Ticket, Oct. 15, 2007:
"True, it may be absolutely none of our business. But as Americans go through the peculiar political osmosis of evaluating all the candidates who want to be their president, they slowly make a series of personal judgments about the candidates -- and their families.
"And, according to a new poll for the Ladies' Home Journal, a majority of American women (52%) have decided that right now of the major political contenders, Elizabeth and John Edwards have the happiest marriage, whatever that means. Whether that is true or not, who knows?
"But a majority of both Republicans (52%) and Democrats (58%) felt that way. Opinions about the marital happiness of the rest of the couples tended to break along party lines, with their own party members feeling they were happier than opposing party members did.
"Last month's poll of 502 women over 18 (with a margin of error of 4.4%) found they felt the second happiest candidate couple was....
... Michelle and Barack Obama (43%), with Cindy and John McCain next at 35%.
"The decision about the fourth happiest couple may surprise some, even them. It's Judith and Rudy Giuliani, who between them have six five marriages, four of them presumably not so happy. The Giulianis were right behind the McCains at 34%.
"The fifth happiest marriage, according to these 502 women, may also surprise some who lived through the 1990s in the United States. Yes, that's right, Hillary and Bill Clinton are thought to be the most happily married couple by 29%.
"They're ahead of Ann and Mitt Romney, who've been married 30+ years, with 24%, Jeri and Fred Thompson with 20% and, lastly, Barbara and Bill Richardson, who might be interested to know they are only believed to be happy by 12% of respondents. Numbers for the last three couples may be lower because they are less well-known.
"Stephanie Coontz, a contributing editor to the magazine, said, "Women tend to be judged more harshly than men for not having a happy marriage." About Sen. Clinton, she said, "She's blamed for being too concerned with her own career and independent of her family. And she's also blamed for not packing up and leaving her husband."
"The poll figures also showed that African American women, by a significant proportion -- 62% compared to 39% for white women -- say their perception of a candidate's married life would not affect their vote."
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: JohnEdwards.com
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Andrew Young of the John Edwards story: The arrests for worthless checks, DWI, burglary, criminal mischief, the federal tax lien
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Posted by: Robert Lewis | August 09, 2008 at 02:01 PM
When Larry Craig touched a policeman's foot under a bathroom stall, you would have thought he was the devil incarnate. Now Senator Clinton says her thoughts and prayers are with the Edwards' family and she has nothing else to say?????
Where were her thoughts and prayers for Larry Craig?
These people have the power to tax and regulate. It is blood sport for the Democrats to shred the US Constitution, a document for which much blood and treasure have been expended.
A pox on all their houses.
Posted by: SarahIone | August 09, 2008 at 07:23 PM
The Dems shred the constitution? I think the current Republican administration is the true enemy of the constitution.
We have had our protections against illegal search and seizure under the 4th amendment ignored and gutted as they illegally wiretapped American citizens' phones.
We have seen the suspension of habeas corpus for all citizens labeled as "enemy combatants"--thankfully the courts have ruled in favor of the people detained at Guantanamo Bay so that they can have due process under the law.
We have also seen that detainees in Guantanamo Bay have been denied their 6th amendment rights to speedy trials and 8th amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
In direct violation of the 11th amendment, our government has arrested and detained foreign nationals on foreign soil.
We have seen our 1st amendment freedom to assemble eroded, as any anti-Bush protesters are forced into "free speech zones" at public events.
This sounds like a shredding of the constitution to me.
Posted by: Concerned citizen | August 11, 2008 at 05:23 PM
This was a campaign in which 7 out of 10 candidates had a known history of cheating on their spouses.
Who culd balme John Edwards for thinking he could get away with it.
I think it is the perception of just how perfect the Edwards marriage was that fuels the high interest in the story.
Thanks to the suffragettes, women can now leave men kike John Edwards - or stay - women have choices.
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Posted by: Virginia Harris | August 12, 2008 at 09:56 AM
Well it shows now how many of the couples we think are happy in public are not in real life. I suspect Romney iand his wife are the most loving and happy of all with McCain and his wife next. I would say Obama and his wife are happy but the pants are no questionably worn by 'her' for she's the one who spills the secrets. Sadly Edwards marriage is a sham and we can see how cavalier he is around the werid one he met at the bar. It's obvious this could not be his first time to stray but maybe the first time he picked someone so needy he'd be exopsed. Now his children and sick wife are devistated.
Posted by: val | August 12, 2008 at 02:09 PM