Spousal Benefits

By Baxter

Those of us who are seasoned campaigners know that you get more bang for your buck when you send your principals out on the road separately.

Unlike Nancy Reagan — who spent every second tethered to Ronnie and gazing up adoringly at him as he delivered the same speech — candidates' spouses can do a world of good if they strike out on their own to meet and greet voters in serious retail politicking.

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is Exhibit A on this commonsense strategy, but other spouses have done their bit, too. Except for recently, when we've noticed a lot of wives (mostly wives) only showing up when their husbands do. But then, things have certainly changed in the last 40 years, haven't they?

That's one of the reasons, we suspect, why everyone is agog at Bill Clinton's first solo foray of the 2016 campaign. That, and, of course, the fact that he's Bill Clinton, with all the wonderfulness and awfulness — mostly wonderfulness — that goes along with that. (P.S.: We'll gladly accept the support of the most gifted politician of the last half-century, thank you. We don't care how many times he's been bogusly impeached.)

So, yay! But we still have one question that keeps knocking around our furry little heads. If there's one campaign that could use an extra infusion of spousal support, it's Jeb! Bush's. Where's Columba? We cats HISS.