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WASHINGTON - When presidential candidate John Edwards said this week that his wife's cancer has returned, it hit close to home for other White House contenders.
Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, suffers from multiple sclerosis; John McCain has been treated three times for skin cancer and Rudy Giuliani was diagnosed in 2000 with prostate cancer.
The health of the candidate and the candidate's spouse can sometimes affect a political race as much as many other factors. In some ways, it puts a human face on what many times ends up a litany of policy statements and back-and-forth political bickering.
“There's such a cynical look at politicians, we see them as TV characters,” says Jilian Zelizer, a professor of contemporary American politics at Boston University. “We forget they're regular people.”
Edwards' announcement in North Carolina brought a personal feel to the 2008 presidential campaign when he and his wife, Elizabeth, stood side by side to explain that her fight with breast cancer had returned in the form of rib cancer.
The couple opened up about her battle against breast cancer they thought was in remission, even letting their doctors brief the news media about the intricacies of her situation. But the former Democratic senator was undeterred in his bid.
“The campaign goes on,” he said. “The campaign goes on strongly.”
“We've been confronted with these kind of traumas and struggles already in our lives,” Edwards added. “And we know from our previous experience that when this happens, you have a choice: You can go cower in the corner and hide or you can be tough and go out there and stand up for what you believe in.”
McCain and Giuliani also have been open about answering questions about their health. Giuliani has even offered to have a medical exam and release the results as part of his campaign.
Romney's campaign issued a statement on Edwards' announcement, but didn't comment on Ann Romney's situation.
"Everyone's thoughts and prayers are with John and Elizabeth Edwards as they face this challenge together,” Mitt Romney said. “I hope they can gain some comfort in knowing they can draw on the strength and courage of their family, friends and legions of supporters as Elizabeth works towards a full recovery.”
Romney and his wife don't hide her condition. She was diagnosed with M.S. in 1998 and faced a few tough years but now says the ailment is manageable.
In an interview with CNN's Larry King earlier this month, King asked Mitt Romney whether his wife's health had any effect on his decision to run.
“Absolutely,” Mitt Romney replied. “There is no question. I would not have gotten into this race if Ann's health were in a deteriorated state and relationship - my relationship with her is the most important thing in my life. And we have done this together. And we gave it a lot of thought.”
In fact, Romney had said his wife's health weighed heavily into whether he was going to join the presidential fray.
“When a spouse faces something like this, it takes a toll on a person,” says Zelizer of Boston University.
And it is becoming routine to bare it in public.
Franklin Deleno Roosevelt was disabled from his waist down and mostly confined to a wheelchair, but the American people may not have known much about his condition because he often appeared upright in pictures and in public, relying on aides to keep him straight.
Reporters had an understanding with the president not to report his condition.
That wouldn't fly now, with news media in a more adversarial relationship with politicians.
Robert H. Ferrell, a presidential historian who has written several books about former commanders in chief, including one titled “Ill-advised: Presidential Health and Public Trust,” says he is glad to find more transparency with the presidential contenders, such as Edwards.
Then again, he adds, “as late as the Reagan administration, his doctors covered up some things. I don't think that's completely gone, it may never be.”
Perceptions:
"There's such a cynical look at politicians, we see them as TV characters. We forget they're regular people."
JILIAN ZELIZER
Boston University professor of contemporary American politics