Meet the Possible First Ladies (or Gentleman)

Michelle Obama may have great arms and expensive fashions but it isn’t a given she’ll still be our first lady come January of 2013. As the Iowa caucuses heat up tomorrow, we will see who’s really in the running. So who are the people who could be our next first lady (or husband)?

Calista Gingrich

Of the main Republican candidates, most have been married for quite a while. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has had the most colorful marital past but he had been married to his wife Calista since 2000.

Calista was born March 4, 1966, in Whitehall, Wisconsin, and went to Luther College in Iowa (a nice connection for Mr. Gingrich). She is an avid golfer and a dedicated Roman Catholic. She was instrumental in Newt’s conversion to Catholicism in 2009 and the couple often writes about their faith.

After spending many years on the hill in Washington, she now runs Gingrich Productions, a media company that produces the projects she and her husband have produced together.

She is also the president to the charitable organization Gingrich Foundation which provides musical scholarships for students attending her alma mater, as well as to other charitable causes.  Calista is quite musical, singing in her choir and playing the French horn in the Fairfax Band.

She recently penned a children’s book called “Sweet Land of Liberty” about an elephant (shocker!). She and Newt live in McLean, Virginia.

Ann Romney

The former First Lady of Massachusetts was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She met the future governor Mitt Romney when they were in private elementary schools near each other there.  The Romney campaign website biography says they met when he was a Cub Scout and threw pebbles at her while she rode by on her horse.

She ended up converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism) in 1966 and shortly after Mitt returned from his mission journey to France, they were married at her house in a civil ceremony in 1969.

Their first-born came while they were both undergrad students at Brigham Young University in Utah. The family moved to Boston so Mitt could attend Harvard. She stayed home to raise their 5 boys and finished her degree in French from Harvard’s Extension School.

She is a champion equestrian despite her 1998 diagnosis with multiple sclerosis. She is also involved in charity work and survived a battle with breast cancer. The couple has 16 grandchildren and lives in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

Carol Paul

Texas Congressman Ron Paul met his wife, Carol while they were high school in 1952. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native asked him to escort her to their school’s Sadie Hawkins-type dance. He proposed in 1956. In 2007, the couple celebrated 50 years of marriage.

In a 2007 article she wrote for The Daily Paul, she chronicles their life together, detailing her jobs as secretary and dance school owner while Ron attended medical school at Duke University and completed his residency in Michigan. When he was called to duty to serve our country, they moved to Texas, and stayed.

They have 3 boys and 2 girls. Their son, Rand Paul is now a United States senator from Kentucky. While the campaign website doesn’t state much about their personal life, the most recent post I could find says they have 18 grandchildren. The couple lives in Lake Jackson, Texas.

Anita Perry

The popular First Lady of Texas, Anita Perry and the governor, Rick Perry, met when they were children at a piano recital. They married in 1982 and have two 20-something children, a son and a daughter.

She works as a fundraiser for the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault non-profit. Her background is in nursing. In 2008, the Texas Tech Nursing school renamed itself after her – The Anita Thigpen Perry School of Nursing.

She’s a native of Haskell, Texas and attended West Texas State University.  She helped create the Texas Conference for Women in 2000 which happens annually and 7,000 women attend.  The event is meant to help empower women across the state.

Karen Santorum

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and his wife, Karen, have seven children – 3 girls and 4 boys. Their daughter Isabella, born in 2008, has a rare genetic disease called Trisomy 18 or Edwards Syndrome.  With Trisomy 18, the child has 3 #18 chromosomes instead of two. This causes a host of medical conditions which most children won’t survive past their 1^st birthday. Baby girls have a better survival rate with some making it to their 20s and 30s.  “I wouldn’t trade the blessings that have come with [Bella] for anything in the world,” says Karen.

An attorney like her husband, she has authored two books – one about children’s etiquette called “Everyday Graces: a child’s book of good manners” and “Letters to Gabriel: the True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum,” written in tribute to her premature son who lived only 2 hours. The introduction is written by Mother Theresa.

Karen is a deeply faithful woman, according to a recent Catholic Online interview. She says her husband hadn’t thought much about running for president until Obamacare passed and he couldn’t sit idly by anymore.

Karen has a nursing degree from Duquesne University and a law degree from The University of Pittsburgh. She met Rick when he was recruiting her for a summer internship at the law firm he was working for, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart.

Marcus Bachmann

The Minnesota Congresswoman’s husband Marcus Bachmann met his wife, Michele Bachmann, when they were undergraduate students and married in 1978. He runs a Christian counseling center, Bachmann & Associates, in Stillwater, Minnesota, near St. Paul.

They have 5 children – two boys and three girls. They also have been foster parents for 23 teenaged girls, many fighting eating disorders.

Marcus has a Ph.D., with a concentration in clinical psychology from the Union Institute in Ohio and wrote his dissertation about the effect of daycare on young children. The couple lives in St. Croix, Minnesota.

So now you know a little more about the “better half” of the major candidates. Now we can sit back and watch what happens tomorrow in a chilly Iowa.

Marijo Tinlin is the Editor in Chief of Family First, one of the oldest family-oriented websites on the internet. She is also the author of the new book about patriotism and teaching our children to love this country called “How to Raise an American Patriot, Making it Okay for Our Kids to Be Proud to Be American.”  It features 13 interviews with patriotic Americans including Ed Meese, Erick Erickson and Jackie Gingrich Cushman. It’s available at www.raisinganamericanpatriot.com.