(2 of 2)
"Fritz says I never make a decision without consulting him. He's right. I consult —and then do what I want to." When the Mondales decided to buy a dog, the Senator said okay, so long as it was small, short-haired and male. Joan came home with a female collie.
Joan recalls that at the time Fritz withdrew from the race in 1974, "I had cleared my life. I had resigned from volunteer boards, and I had organized my household so I would always be free to campaign, and there I sat in my best run-ning-for-President red suit and said to myself, 'I am unemployed.' " Now she is planning to get out that red suit again —and she is already thinking how the wife of the Vice President could use her influence to help the arts.