Type "First Dude" into Google, and you'll find, as I did, various sites hawking buttons, T-shirts, and bumper stickers emblazoned with "One Smoking Hot First Dude," "Todd's Babe" and "I'm voting for Todd!"
The last time we saw such a hormone-induced uproar over a political spouse was Dennis Kucinich's smoking-hot wife, Elizabeth. He gave scrappy, diminutive men everywhere a glimmer of hope.
The hope baton has been passed to driven, powerful, alpha females. The ones who have been so unlucky in love, never able to keep a man. Outwardly, to her friends, she blames her time-starved, career-driven schedule ("I just don't have time for a relationship!), but inwardly, she knows that's it's hard to find a good man. And by "good man," I mean someone who's not emasculated by or envious of his partner's success.
Yet now, with the help of Sarah Palin, those women can hope for someone like Todd to come along. Regardless of your political stance, Sarah and Todd are paving the way for a new breed of couple. In a country rampant with divorce, it's usually the successful female/supportive male combo that's first to hit the rocks. But Sarah and Todd, high school sweethearts who married young and quickly filled their home with a brood, seem to defy the odds. How do they do it?
Todd Palin's equal parts masculinity and sensitivity might have something to do with it. Not to say that Sarah has nothing to do with their successful relationship, but Todd is making the ladies on the campaign trail swoon. And he might just help his wife earn a spot in the White House this fall.
Here, the top five reasons Todd Palin is driving women wild and might help make Sarah a very happy woman come November 4th:
More brawn, less brains He's no nerdy scientist, no slick corporate exec. He's a union guy. Angela Merkel has a chemist; Sandra Day O'Connor had a fellow lawyer. Sarah Palin's guy worked in the fields for oil giant BP before landing his current union rep job. As People reported, he's "a tough, blue-collar outdoorsman who calloused his hands with two decades of hard work at the North Slope oil fields."
He’s the man of the family — literally
He stepped down from his full-time position to step up to be Mr. Mom. Todd still works part time, but the majority of his day is spent tending to familial matters, from cooking to child rearing to paying the bills, according to the New York Post.
She doesn’t emasculate him This is where "First Dude" comes into play. Technically, he's Alaska's First Gentleman, but the couple found a moniker that better suits the snowmobiling woodsman.
He's not jealous Simply put, he doesn't want to steal her thunder. CNN says that "Todd Palin is known as his wife's greatest adviser and most loyal protector," but that's where his influence ends (or so we think; see next point). He appears content to stay behind the scenes, and doesn't compete with Sarah. Instead, he supports her.
He might be pulling the strings all along The Wall Street Journal reported that some Alaskans call Todd the "Shadow Governor," insinuating that he might have more power than we think. He has been copied on numerous government e-mails and he weighs in on state legislation. And lest we not forget, Troopergate. Whether Todd is the unassuming, good-natured, aproned guy or the mastermind behind the Republican ticket, women around the country are on board — which raises the bigger question: McCain brought on Palin to win the female vote. But which Palin, exactly?