by In a campaign filled with tense social interactions and clumsy pantomimes of warmth, Ron DeSantis’ encounter with his wife at the presidential primary debate in Des Moines on Wednesday night was one of the most curious.
During the second commercial break, DeSantis, the Florida governor, walked to the edge of the stage and crouched to shake hands with Gov. Kim Reynolds, R-Iowa, and her husband. Then, with professional rigor, he grabbed the outstretched palm of Casey DeSantis, Florida’s first lady.
Did you just shake your wife’s hand? The spectators in the room were bewildered.
Interactions with spouses during the election campaign can be tense, even for the most skilled politicians and the warmest of marriages. To be fair, DeSantis was standing on an elevated stage, on a tight schedule, making a hug impractical. Too much affection carries its own political risks.
And who knows? Perhaps The Handshake was some sort of inside joke, or an effort to create a distinctive routine, like Barack and Michelle Obama’s self-conscious fist bump (which was weaponized by Obama’s political enemies as a “terrorist punch”) .
Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for DeSantis’ campaign, declined to comment but suggested the story was unimportant four days before the Iowa caucuses.
Somehow, illogically, the chaste encounter brought to mind an opposite moment in campaign history: a passionate kiss between Vice President Al Gore and his wife at the time, Tipper, on the stage of the Democratic National Convention in 2000. (The kiss was widely interpreted (as an effort by a somewhat rigid candidate to relax his public image. It was also a stark contrast to the painful marital events during Bill Clinton’s second term.)
Marital relationships are invariably a delicate part of presidential campaigns: the emotional ups and downs, the disruption of privacy, the jarring weirdness of a spectacle in which one half of a married couple is the star and the other a supporting hand, and society. itself is an object of scrutiny.
Today, the omnipresence of photographers and smartphones means that every unwieldy kiss, every hastily withdrawn hand, every missed gesture becomes fodder for tabloids and scrutinizing analysts.
Other Republican candidates this cycle have had their own awkward romantic moments. At the end of the primary debate in November, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina took the stage with his girlfriend, Mindy Noce, a forced public debut after months of speculation about his romantic life. Days later he abandoned the race.
Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, is largely absent from this year’s election campaign. (During her first term, Mrs. Trump was photographed on several occasions apparently refusing to hold her outstretched hand.) Nikki Haley’s husband, a commissioned officer in the U.S. National Guard, is deployed to Africa.
Even the way politicians talk about their spouses can raise eyebrows. Mitt Romney once described the situation of his wife “pair of cadillacs.” There has been much speculation about whether Mike Pence He refers to his wife as “Mother.”
Along the way, interactions between DeSantis and his wife have added a degree of warmth to campaign events that focus on politics. When she addresses the crowd on stage, he often waits patiently to one side of her, looking at her with a loving expression.
Nicolas Nehamas contributed with reports.
