Last spring, aspiring Republican presidential couple Rudolph W. and Judith Nathan Giuliani posed for a fashion layout in Harper’s Bazaar, which accompanied an interview with Mrs. Giuliani. The most striking thing about the feature was their pose.

Sitting on the arm of her husband’s chair, eyes closed, Judith Giuliani tipped her head down, caressed his face and planted a kiss that looked like a precursor to something steamier.

“Rudy’s a very, very romantic guy,” she told the magazine. “We love watching ‘Sleepless in Seattle.’ Can you imagine my big testosterone-factor husband doing that?”

A couple of months later, upon seeing a photograph of presumed presidential hopeful Fred Thompson’s much younger wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson, in a low-cut gown that would be modest on a Hollywood red carpet but could be shocking at a Washington social event, talk-show host Joe Scarborough quipped, “Do you think – think she works the pole?”

Not long after that, Sen. John McCain’s wife, Cindy, gave Fox’s Greta Van Susteren a tour of their new Phoenix condo. McCain wore a pink blouse with a plunging neckline and heavy makeup that would not have been out of place at a black tie event.

In this campaign season, intimations of sexuality are sprouting like wildflowers along the road to the White House. Not that the commingling of sex and politics is anything new, but for what seems to be the first time in memory, voters are being confronted with questions that don’t usually break the surface: Just how sexy is a first lady allowed to be? And what constitutes an appropriate display of affection between candidates and their spouses? With a nominating field full of older men and younger wives, particularly on the GOP side, a youthful, even sexy, wife offers a none-too-subtle message about the vitality of the older husband, experts say.

Sexuality as strategy

Not since Al Gore’s ostentatious lip lock with Tipper at the 2000 Democratic National Convention has sexuality-as-strategy raised its head in quite so insistent a fashion.

“What’s going on reflects what’s happening in the larger culture, a culture increasingly focused on young, attractive women and blatant sexuality, on display for all to appreciate,” said Elizabeth Sherman, a political sociologist and Democrat who is married to former Republican Rep. Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma. “The candidate’s wife is a strategic asset. How are you going to deploy that asset?”

Though voters may profess to evaluate candidates on their policies, Scarborough’s racy comment (which occurred during a discussion of women who use stripper poles in their exercise routines) revealed an attitude that, for better or worse, always simmers just below the surface.

“Sexuality has this unconscious power,” said Pepper Schwartz, a University of Washington sociologist who believes that powerful messages are being sent by how candidates and their spouses look and interact. “It goes past the rational brain and goes into the emotional circuit. It’s one of those visceral things where voters say one thing and think another.”

Schwartz said that although older women might be put off by the May-December aspect of some of these marriages, younger men might be impressed. “The men say, ‘What a guy!’ and women say, ‘What an ego!’ “

For the record, Thompson is 24 years older than Jeri, a political professional who has worked for the Republican National Committee and as a media consultant for a Washington law firm.

McCain is 18 years older than Cindy, Giuliani is 11 years older than Judith. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, a Democratic hopeful, is 18 years older than his wife, Jackie. The prize for greatest age gap, however, goes to longshot Democratic contender Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, who is 31 years older than his 29-year-old wife, Elizabeth.

Spouse’s effect

The Clintons are a singular case, say observers. Although Land lauded Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., for staying in her marriage, Schwartz said the couple had to be careful how they related to each other in public. “I genuinely believe they like and respect each other,” she said, “but the sexual part has been complex to say the least. I would tell them to be warm and respectful, and don’t pretend you are the love affair of the century.”

When Barack and Michelle Obama were featured on the cover of Ebony’s February issue, their pose, while close, hewed to the traditional vision of a president and first lady. She stood behind him, in the support role, her arms around his shoulders. His arms were at his side.

Politics experts often say that a candidate’s spouse is a negligible factor in helping voters cast their ballots for president. But that might be changing, said Sherman, the political sociologist. “A candidate’s spouse has to be a positive enhancement. If not, at least do no harm. The way things are sliced today, 1 percent here, 2 percent there can make a big difference. One false move can destroy your whole campaign.”