'Lovely wife' pens a memoir

... AND HIS LOVELY WIFE: A MEMOIR FROM THE WOMAN BESIDE THE MAN, by Connie Schultz, Random House, 280 pages, $24.95

Connie Schultz is a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and to her credit she won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2005. She is also married to Ohio's junior senator, Sherrod Brown, and has two children and two stepchildren.

It was Brown's decision to leave his "safe" congressional seat and seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate that inspired this campaign memoir. The title, " ... And His Lovely Wife," also fits well with Utah's LDS culture, where the phrase is often heard over the pulpit. But for "the lovely wife," it's sort of like losing her identity.

Schultz was chagrined when she was first introduced that way at a campaign event, but after she had heard the same phrase 50 times, she accepted it and stopped counting. It is a clever way for her to frame the business of a political campaign from the spouse's viewpoint, all the more interesting from the mindset of a professional writer.

This memoir is done with the light, comedic touch required of the subject. It's witty and anecdotal, whether read by a Democrat or a Republican.

Unfortunately, most of what a spouse goes through is not funny until it's over. For instance, Schultz writes that she noticed two men in suits pawing through the family garbage one morning, and when she told her husband, he said, "I'm sorry, honey. Welcome to the campaign."

Because Schultz is a candid, outspoken writer, she was probably not the favorite spouse for a political "handler" to deal with each day. She shied away from using prepared campaign lines.

But, as it turns out, this is a good book for the new Sen. Brown to have in circulation because it is very complimentary of him. He made it very clear, for instance, that he would only run for the Senate if his wife agreed that he should do so.

Schultz couldn't help herself when her comments tended to get her husband in trouble. She openly compares herself with Lucille Ball's bumbling TV character Lucy Ricardo, who was always an embarrassment to husband Ricky.

A friend gave Schultz a CD of show tunes, including "An Old Fashioned Wedding," in which Ethel Merman sang that when the officiator asked, "Do you agree to love and honor?" she would respond by saying, "Love and honor, yes, but not obey!"

One of Schultz's best anecdotes is about her husband getting a haircut before doing a debate on NBC's "Meet the Press." The barber, Ray Calabrese, criticized Brown's "short stubby sideburns" and told him that was "the Nazi look. How did you do this to yourself?" He said he shaved in the shower. The barber said, "You shave without looking?"

The barber advised the future senator to get a mirror for the shower that doesn't steam up — then he trimmed the sideburns carefully. When Brown left the chair, the barber warned, "Remember, leave the sideburns alone."

---

E-mail: dennis@desnews.com