FOR the love of a man and the votes of 62 million women,* presidential candidates' wives this year are suffering tortures that would have given Martha Washington the vapors. Ethel Kennedy, three months pregnant, takes a fall on the ice as she and Bobby skim a rink for the benefit of photographers and the skaters' vote. Abigail McCarthy totters out of a sickbed to stump for Gene. Happy Rockefeller endures scores of bone-crushing handshakes daily. Pat Nixon makes her millionth airport arrival, to beam and greet the faithful. Only Muriel Humphrey, recuperating from an operation, has been spared.
More than ever, Americans...