Who Is Ann Romney? Will She Help Her Husband?

The Republican [National] Convention is finally under way and, with that, the official debut of Ann Romney who, after Tampa, [has] tried to present to the American people a new image of her husband, as a warmer, more human person. He still has her heart, she says, despite being frequently described as a cold, distant person without charisma.

Married for 43 years to the man who aspires to replace Barack Obama in the White House, she described a less malleable and more flesh-and-blood Mitt Romney. And who better than her, having known him since grade school, fallen in love with him during adolescence and currently helping him strategize with his party to convince the electorate that he is not a calculating and rich impresario with little or nothing in common with the average citizen.

Which perhaps explains the not-so-political tone of the three-day convention that culminated Thursday in Romney’s acceptance of the [Republican] nomination, with wife Ann’s speeches focusing, as was to be expected, on personal family experiences, [Romney’s] great qualities as a husband, father and grandfather and the love of her life.

Certainly, no one can deny the fact that they do look like a fairytale couple, although it’s hard to tell whether this will influence and could change the electoral predilection among female voters, who constitute 52 percent of the electorate, and the majority of whom are inclined toward Obama, according to all the polls.

According to “The Real Romney,” written by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, the aspiring president never dated another woman after he met Ann Lois Davies, whom he married on March 21, 1969 after a four-year courtship that began when she was 16. He was 22 and she was 19. They [have] five sons and 18 grandchildren.

Ann Romney adopted her husband’s Mormon religion. She graduated from Harvard. Since 1998, she has suffered from multiple sclerosis. In 2009 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery. “I wish everyone could have seen how Mitt cared for me during moments like those”* states the potential First Lady about her husband, a millionaire whose fortune is purported to be around $260 million.

According to a recent poll, 42 percent of Americans have a favorable image of Mrs. Romney, who is considered to be positive and encouraging, given that this speech is her first on a national level. Nevertheless her popularity is well below Michelle Obama’s, which is at 64 percent.

However, the exact influence of a spouse’s popularity on the presidential vote cannot be predicted with scientific certainty. A Rasmussen report revealed that 47 percent of the electorate do take into consideration the spouse’s popularity. However 50 percent focus only on the politics and the candidate’s personality.

In any case, the experts believe that the propagandizing campaigns are devastating and even brutal for a candidate’s spouse. Who can forget the backlash from Michelle Obama’s 2008 statement that for the first time she felt proud of her country. Not to mention Hillary Clinton’s 1992 comment about preferring to work with her husband than staying at home baking cookies.

Of course, Ann Romney, at 63, has also had her fierce critics. She has been accused of cruelty to animals, living an elitist and privileged life, having an expensive wardrobe, including 900-dollar blouses, and driving Cadillacs. [She has also been accused of] being a horseracing aficionado, a passionate equestrian ballet fan and an owner of horses that cost thousands of dollars.

However, the greatest controversy surrounding her to date, and from which she emerged victorious, was when, in April, a well-known Democrat activist said on television that Mrs. Romney had “never worked a day in her life” and [therefore] had never faced any of the financial problems facing women in this country.

Faced with the risk of offending stay-at-home moms and losing their votes, Obama himself came out in [Ann Romney’s] defense, stating that “there’s no tougher job than being a mom.” Nevertheless, it seems equally difficult to imagine that with his wife’s speech, Mitt Romney will stop being distant and indifferent, become more personable and stop being an uninspiring politician.

*Editor’s note: This quote, while accurately translated, could not be verified.