# Children and Spouses of the Presidental Candidates

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-and-spouses-of-the-presidental-candidates/752849>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [April 23, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-and-spouses-of-the-presidental-candidates/752849 "2016-04-23T00:16:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-and-spouses-of-the-presidental-candidates/752849/1 "2016-04-23T00:16:48Z")

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Has anyone noticed that the children and spouses of the presidential candidates often seem to be more interesting and likeable than the candidates themselves

Part of this may be that the candidates are very much in the spotlight and their family seems a little fresher

The people that catch my eye as being more interesting are:

Trump’s spouse - Melina? Trump

Ted Cruz’s older daughter - Caroline. (She would make a better president than Ted Cruz - Too bad she is only 8 years old:D)

The other thing that was pointed out is that all presidents from Carter on, only had daughters with them in the White House.

Going by that:

This means the next president will either be Cruz, Kasich, or Hillary Clinton.

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**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-and-spouses-of-the-presidental-candidates/752849/2 "2016-04-23T00:28:42Z")

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Hillary’s spouse is “more interesting and likeable” too, but he’s not exactly “fresher”.

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**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-and-spouses-of-the-presidental-candidates/752849/3 "2016-04-23T00:39:59Z")

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The other thing that I noticed is that the daughters of Kasich seemed not to have that much interest in Politics and I got the impression that they really did not want to be there but made their appearance out of their love for their father.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-and-spouses-of-the-presidental-candidates/752849/4 "2016-04-23T02:05:11Z")

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It’s almost certainly an indication that political opponents rarely bother targeting the children and spouses of presidential candidates.

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**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-and-spouses-of-the-presidental-candidates/752849/5 "2016-04-24T00:26:30Z")

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> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> It’s almost certainly an indication that political opponents rarely bother targeting the children and spouses of presidential candidates.

No kidding. After Rush Limbaugh’s disgusting comments about Chelsea Clinton (and rightfully getting excoriated for it), Presidential families get off easy.

There are certainly things that could be said about Laura Bush and her twins, and I’m sure there are things that can be said about Michelle Obama and her girls, but by and large the media avoids those because it’s bad politics.