Democrat Candidates’ Wives Outline Agendas

Looking to advance their husbands’ popularity in this key early-voting state, wives of six Democratic presidential aspirants fought back nerves and gave consecutive speeches in a first-ever First Ladies Forum at Drake University on Sunday.

Sponsored by the Polk County Democratic Party, the forum gave the women whom Hattie Babbitt called “the fabulous dwarfettes” a chance to reveal their own White House agendas to 300 paying listeners (at $10 a ticket) and to reporters who had come from all over the United States and as far away as Germany.

Since the withdrawal of former Democratic front-runner Gary Hart, the six relatively unknown candidates plus undeclared candidate Jesse Jackson have been dubbed “the seven dwarfs” in some quarters. But Hart’s withdrawal after disclosures linking him to Miami model Donna Rice also helped spur interest in Sunday’s forum.

“Campaign strategists may or may not go to the White House, but you can bet one thing--the spouse will be upstairs,” said Ruth Harkin, wife of Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and moderator of the event.

Help for Vulnerable

Using their influence to help the nation’s vulnerable--especially children--was the major theme sounded by the spouses of former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, Missouri Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. and Illinois Sen. Paul Simon. Jacqueline Jackson declined the invitation.

The most unusual plan was put forth by 36-year-old Jill Biden, who said she would like to continue teaching, which would make her the first President’s wife ever to hold a paying job while living in the White House.

“My own personal view is that the First Lady should respond to the concerns and interests of today’s American women, who are mothers, spouses and who are wage-earners, women who are struggling to balance all three roles,” said Jill Biden, a mother of three who teaches teen-agers in a psychiatric hospital. “And I think that they would identify with a First Lady who is also trying to balance those three roles.”

Sen. Biden was the only husband who attended the event.

“Every time I speak, she’s there with me,” he said. ‘I wasn’t about to not be here today.”

Concerns of Her Own

Biden said his “co-occupant” in the White House would devote her energies to “concerns of her own. If and when a foreign crisis comes up, it’s my secretary of state I’m going to sit down with, not my wife.”

The dreaded political specter of the interfering wife seemed to stalk the speakers as they tried to portray themselves as activists but not meddlers.

“We are not going to tolerate unelected representatives running government policy from either the White House dinner table or the White House basement,” said Mary Elizabeth (Tipper) Gore, whose crusade against sex and violence in rock music has made her better known in some areas of the country, she has said, than her husband. Gore said she hoped to “raise public awareness and stimulate action on the local, state and federal level” for relief for the homeless.

Only Jeanne Simon, an attorney who met her husband when both were in the Illinois Legislature, tackled the ticklish influence question head-on.

Will Seek Solutions

“In the White House I want to become an ombudswoman for the American people,” said Simon, the eldest of the wives at age 65, and seven years her husband’s senior. “I want to earn that title by visiting Americans at home and at work. I want to help those who need help and can’t find it anywhere else. I want to seek solutions and relate my findings, not to a press conference or a committee but to Paul for his use.”

Babbitt, an attorney and the only speaker who labelled herself a feminist, said that her issue would be “investment in our children,” including their health, education and day care needs.

“I would launch a campaign to start a reading program in every day care center in America,” she said.

Kitty Dukakis did not spell out exactly how she would carry out her agenda, but said that she would be “active in advocating for people in need, for the homeless, for people who cannot read.” She also voiced a strong interest in the reunification and resettlement of refugee families, noting she had visited two refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border.

Jane Gephardt said she wanted to focus her attention on family issues.

“Changes in culture, economics and communications, as well as the temptations of drugs and alcohol, press in on the family structure as never before,” she said. “Too many young people are adrift, dropping out, leaving school or losing hope and ambition. I believe that a First Lady can mobilize Americans, can rouse our consciousness and move our conscience to do something more for this next generation.”