BARACK OBAMA AND MICHELLE ROBINSON OBAMA Married Since : 1992 Family Album: Two daughters

They met in 1989, while he was still a student at Harvard Law School (where he was the first black president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review). Barack was interning for a Chicago law firm, and Michelle was his summer supervisor. She later told a reporter that she fell for him "for the same reason many other people respect him: his connection with people."

Throughout his political career, she has been an asset. A Princeton grad, she's a Chicago native from the city's South Side. That … Read More

One presidential election. Six frontrunners. You may know their stands on abortion, the Iraq war, and whether two men should be allowed to say "I do." But what do you know about their romantic relationships? YourTango investigates which couple is most likely to captivate American voters—and which union is best equipped to survive four years in the White House.

NOT SO LONG AGO, WHAT HAPPENED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS in the White House was nobody's business. Some of most celebrated presidents in U.S. history—Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy—enjoyed a little action on the side without having to worry … Read More

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON AND BILL CLINTON Married Since: 1975 Family Album: One daughter

Bill's philandering was humiliation on a global scale—but there was an unexpected benefit: Hillary got the chance to fire up her own political ambition. "The country was most favorable toward Hillary when she was being victimized," says family therapist Terrence Real, author of The New Rules of Marriage. "Her difficulty is the public perception of her as an ice maiden. When she opened up, it rebalanced her and made her someone that you could feel something for." In 2000, Clinton rode that wave of sympathy to … Read More

JOHN MCCAIN AND CINDY HENSLEY MCCAINMarried Since: 1980 Family Album: John has a daughter and two sons from his first marriage. John and Cindy have two daughters and two sons together.

He was a war hero, a former prisoner in North Vietnam; she was the daughter of a wealthy beer distributor and almost 20 years his junior. They met in 1979 at a reception in Honolulu. "We both lied about our ages," Cindy told a reporter. "I made myself older and he made himself younger." Before they could marry, he had to divorce his first wife (although they … Read More

JOHN EDWARDS AND ELIZABTH ANANIA EDWARDS Married Since: 1977 Family Album: Two sons (one died in 1996) and two daughters

On the surface, Elizabeth Edwards would seem to be the exact opposite of the ideal political spouse. Hardly meek, she's a smart and independent attorney who doesn't spend too much time worrying about her appearance, and talks openly about her struggles with weight loss. Yet she's often described as her husband's "secret weapon."

"She's presumably very bright, very competent, and she knows how to keep from upstaging him," says Frank Pittman, a psychiatrist and family therapist in private … Read More

RUDY GIULIANI AND JUDITH STISH NATHAN

Married Since: 2003 Family Album: Giuliani has a son and a daughter from his second marriage. Nathan has a daughter from her second marriage.

The tabloid ink expended on this union rivals headlines about the Clintons. Years before their divorce scandal, Rudy Giuliani's second marriage to Donna Hanover was major gossip fodder in New York. There were persistent rumors—vehemently denied—that he was having an affair with his attractive female communications director, Christyne Lategano. The gossip took a toll.

In 1997, Hanover refused to answer when asked if she had cast her vote for … Read More

MITT ROMNEY AND ANN DAVIES ROMNEY
Married Since: 1969
Family Album: Five sons, 10 grandchildren.

As Mitt tells it, the Romney marriage is a real love story. "We met in elementary school," he said in a 2006 speech that is posted on his campaign website. "I was a Cub Scout, and she was riding a horse bareback over some railroad tracks. What do Cub Scouts do when they see a little girl on a horse? We picked up stones and threw them." Years later, in 1965, he refined his style and asked her out to see The Sound of Music, which had recently … Read More