ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602280019
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN BARTA DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Hillary Rodham Clinton has redefined the role of first lady, opening up new options to potential presidential spouses. But don't look for any of the Republican candidates' wives to try to emulate her style.
As they campaign, in separate appearances or simply standing by their man, the message of the Republican women seems to be: ``I'm not Hillary.''
Honey Alexander, wife of GOP hopeful Lamar Alexander, says the role of first lady is ``in transition, and will continue to be.''
``Women are just going to have different interests,'' she said in an Iowa interview. ``Some are going to be working full time out of the home. Some are going to be involved in policy. And some are going to want to play golf.''
Indeed. From Elizabeth Dole, who could be the first presidential wife to have a paid job outside the White House, to Sabina Forbes and Jocelyn Keyes, who lean toward being full-time moms, the range of first ladies in waiting runs the full spectrum.
Historian and first ladies scholar Lewis Gould of the University of Texas at Austin suggests that if a Republican wins, ``there will be some effort to retrench'' by the next first lady because Hillary Clinton is seen by some as a political lightning rod.
There is no constitutionally defined job for a first lady, and the role in the past has been whatever the presidential spouse made of it.
Gould suggests that, as a result of Hillary Clinton's call to testify before a grand jury about her law practice before entering the White House, there no longer will be a ``zone of privacy'' for a first lady.
In fact, the press already has begun looking into the financial investments of Elizabeth. Dole and Honey Alexander. Sallie Dornan is also under scrutiny for chemical addiction treatment and charges of cruelty she has made against her husband, California Rep. Bob Dornan, in divorce actions that were never finalized.
Honey Alexander believes President Clinton ``made a mistake'' asking his wife to be in charge of revising the nation's health care policy ``and she made a mistake in doing it. But they believe in big-government solutions, so that was a logical involvement for her.''
Alexander told Iowans, ``I'm not running for first lady. Lamar is running for president, and I'm trying to help him reach that goal.''
The only Republican presidential spouse who can claim on-the-job training, Alexander says she would expand on her experience as Tennessee's first lady, continuing to focus on issues that affect children and families.
Is working full time outside the White House realistic?
``Yes,'' Dole said during an Iowa interview, ``because there's no job description for first lady. You put your own imprimatur on it. It reflects the personality and the life skills of the person in the job.''
Dole has twice been a Cabinet officer, serving as transportation secretary and secretary of labor. But she sees hers as ``a very different role'' from that of Hilary Clinton.
Whether or not Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas is elected, Elizabeth Dole plans to return to her $200,000-a-year job as president of the American Red Cross.
``That makes a powerful statement,'' Bob Dole says while on the campaign trail. ``She doesn't have to hang around the White House. And if she gets elected, I can do the same thing.'' Elizabeth Dole has long been touted as a future presidential candidate in her own right.
The campaign trail recently provided an indication of how the wives of the eight major GOP presidential candidates view the role of first lady.
Dole, Alexander and Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar's wife, Charlene, are the most active and savvy political wives on the campaign trail, maintaining their own speaking schedules. Wendy Gramm also was a high-profile campaign spouse until her husband, Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, exited the race.
Shelley Buchanan always travels with her husband, commentator Pat Buchanan. Jocelyn Keyes, Sallie Dornan and Michelle Taylor, wife of businessman Morry Taylor, occasionally join their candidate spouses, and Sabina Forbes recently made her first appearance on the campaign trail.
Elizabeth Dole operates with precision. An advance crew goes in two hours before her appearance in a small-town restaurant, sets up a blue drape backdrop, puts out the coffee and fruit and cheese tray and campaign literature and dispatches someone to a nearby Elks Club to find an American flag to complete her setting.
Dole talks for 30 minutes about her husband without referring to a note.
After the speech, she explains that her goal as first lady would be to lead a national campaign to increase charitable contributions. ``If we could get charitable giving up even one percentage point, we would have 62 billion new dollars,'' she says.
What about getting involved in policy-making?
``Certainly, as any loving husband and wife, you share ideas, you share views. But I will not be in charge of health care,'' the Harvard-educated lawyer says.
Shelley Buchanan stays close beside her husband, whom she met when both worked in the Nixon White House.
While she handles the business side of her husband's writing, speaking and television career, Buchanan's sister, Bay, has a more visible job as campaign manager.
Shelley Buchanan could be mistaken for the Vanna White of the Republican presidential campaign. Stylishly dressed in a TV-friendly red or blue jacket or lime green suit, she's onstage clapping for her husband's success.
After he won the Louisiana caucus, Buchanan introduced her as the ``Cajun Queen.'' She smiled and waved and stepped aside.
Shelley Buchanan doesn't make speeches, and she doesn't do interviews. But in an impromptu conversation on the campaign trail, she was gracious, soft-spoken and articulate.
She would be ``privileged'' to return to the White House, where she once was a receptionist, and would focus on being ``supportive of my husband.'' For a project, she might work on behalf of senior citizens. Her 95-year-old mother, who resides in a Virginia nursing home, suffers from Alzheimer's disease.
Alexander, who was reared in a Republican family in Victoria, Texas, got her political baptism working for the late Texas Sen. John Tower. She met her husband, who worked on former Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker's staff, at a staff intramural softball game on Capitol Hill.
``What I've always tried to do is to reinforce whatever Lamar was trying to accomplish, taking maybe a piece of his message and concentrating on that,'' she says. ``He talks a lot about personal responsibility. I would address that and community solutions to problems,'' she says.
Sabina (pronounced like Carolina) Forbes has been the least involved among the candidates' wives. She stood with her husband, publisher Steve Forbes, when he announced last fall, and then was out of sight, except for one TV commercial, until the weekend before the Iowa caucus. On the campaign trail, she refused to answer questions from the press.
Former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey, national co-chairman of the Forbes campaign, explains that Sabina Forbes is ``genuinely bashful. This is not Hillary,'' he says. ``She is a very modest lady. She doesn't feel experienced enough to give interviews.''
Despite their immense wealth, the sturdy-looking Forbes has led a fairly private life, eschewing the limelight, according to campaign spokeswoman Gretchen Morgenson. She describes Forbes, who was educated around the world, as a ``very down-to-earth person and a shy, devoted mother.''
While Lugar campaigned in Iowa, Charlene Lugar was appearing in his behalf in New Hampshire. A veteran political wife, dating back to Lugar's days as mayor of Indianapolis, ``Char'' Lugar is comfortable campaigning alone.
The Lugars met at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where they served as co-presidents of the student body.
While touting her husband's experience, she also talks about her favorite issue, prenatal care. Charlene Lugar pioneered mobile prenatal clinics in Indianapolis, which she dubbed the ``MOM-mobiles.''
Jocelyn Keyes, a native of India, met her husband when he was in the Foreign Service working as vice consul at the U.S. Consulate General in Bombay. They were married in 1981 and have three children under 13.
Alan Keyes, now a talk-show host, centers his campaign on the American family. So his wife stays close to home, joining him only for big events, such as the marriage protection rally sponsored by pro-family groups the weekend before the Iowa primary.
Sallie Dornan and her husband have five children and nine grandchildren from a 40-year, sometimes rocky marriage. Sallie Dornan's campaign biography states that her goal is to be the ``first Nammie'' (grandmother) of the nation.
Charles O. Jones, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, expects questions to continue about the role of future first ladies, ``and maybe first men, one of these days.''
``With the pipeline full of capable women in Congress and government, that issue is going to be raised. The questions,'' he says, ``will be even more intriguing if the spouse is a male.''
Mentioning the British model of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband, he says: ``We'll all look to Dennis Thatcher.''
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