Who’s really running for president here? Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. These names (and their respective views on various issues) are engrained in our collective zeitgeist – at least until November. But what about the lesser known, but equally influential, people who are there at every press conference and every win, and sometimes even out on their own making speeches and begging for votes? These people aren’t getting paychecks or even something to put on their resume. Michelle Obama has been very visible (and very vocal) throughout her husband’s campaign. Mrs. Obama has repeatedly tried to humanize her husband. In a September 2007 interview with Glamour magazine, she said Barack is “so snore-y and stinky” that their two daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha, don’t want to crawl into bed with him. After Maureen Dowd, a columnist for The New York Times, wrote last April that Michelle’s comments might be “emasculating, casting her husband-under fire for lacking experience-as an undisciplined child,” she has stopped sharing details about her husband’s hygiene, but is still going strong about life on the campaign trail, her daughters and her faith in her husband. Former president Bill Clinton has been accused of parading around for his wife, almost overshadowing her at events. “When you’re dealing with the Clintons in ’08, you essentially have two candidates – her and him – and he’s going to have to have a Boy Scout report card given his history,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley in a March 28 interview with the International Herald Tribune. “He can definitely help her, but that also means he can hurt her.” Late last week, as part of a campaign tour of Northern Carolina for his wife, Clinton urged voters in Greenville to vote for his wife, saying, “You need someone who thinks about you every day and who doesn’t forget about you after she gets elected.” While Bill is appealing to his former followers in hopes of transferring their support to Hillary, Chelsea is working the circuit to attract a younger crowd. Despite MSNBC correspondent David Schuster’s inappropriate comment that Hillary was “pimping out” her daughter, Chelsea has been working hard to attract the youth demographic that many may have already thought to be Obama’s. She doesn’t like to talk to the press, but she does give speeches and answer questions to almost anyone who will listen. John McCain is almost the opposite. While his family spans two marriages and four decades, most of the time they are behind the scenes or not even there. Megan McCain is the exception. At 23, she powders his nose before a speech, helps him pick out some clothes and has a blog detailing events on the trail. Even still, she is not in the limelight. At town hall meetings, which she rarely misses, she is usually in the corner, not on stage with her father. McCain’s two youngest sons are in the military, but he almost never mentions them when defending his positions on foreign affairs and policy. Even when his youngest son Jimmy was in the audience before deployment, most people didn’t know. “It’s intentional,” McCain said to CNN in October 2007. “I just feel it’s inappropriate for us to mention our children. I don’t want people to feel that … I’d like them to have their own lives. I wouldn’t want to seem like I’m trying to gain some kind of advantage. I just feel that it’s a private thing.” But is it right? Should we, as citizens and voters, really care what Mrs. Obama thinks about her husband’s affinity for leaving his dirty socks on the floor? Should college students line up to hear Chelsea speak about Hillary? Or should we just listen to the candidates? – Chelsea Reil can be reached at [email protected].