Standing for their men: Did Ann Romney or Michelle Obama win over moms? (+video)

Kuritz adds that she has always voted the candidate and not the party and is still making up her mind, but at the moment, she says, “Ann Romney resonated more with me.”

Both women were very persuasive, says businesswoman and blogger Christine Perkett, who is a registered independent.

Romney was “charming but almost desperate and old-fashioned in her ‘women rock’ sentiment,” she says via e-mail, adding, “we all know winning the Mom vote is huge, and it's not enough for her to just also be a mom and wife.”

She also has to convey that she understands what it's like to be a mom who struggles to pay the bills, works, and also supports her husband and children emotionally, make financial decisions, and balance the pressures of everything men handle, she says.

“My sense of why so many undecided Moms may be more moved by Obama is simple: trust,” says Ms. Perkett. “It's easier to believe that Michelle Obama has faced hardships, overcome struggles, works hard to look good and stay in shape like the rest of us, and is constantly balancing the myriad of challenges that we all face as ‘Average Americans,’ ” she adds.

“Romney has the added challenge of her wealth – and just being a ‘woman and a mom’ isn't enough to connect with today's average Mom voter,” says Perkett.

Both spouses did a good job of connecting with their party’s base, says Iowa State University political science professor Steffen Schmidt.

“Ann Romney appealed to that 1950s version of America where the dad works, the mom stays at home, there are five children, and they occasionally take a vacation together when the dad can get away,” he says, adding, “this is a very sentimental vision of our country that a large segment of Americans still yearn for.”

On the other hand, he says, Michelle Obama reached out to a wide and diverse population, “including many segments of the population from African-Americans to Hispanics and gays and lesbians.”

The real question is which segment of the population will help a candidate win in this election, says Professor Schmidt.

“In the long run, we are becoming a country of majority minority,” he points out, but says, “with some 75 percent of the vote still coming from whites, that is the segment that candidates have to address in this election.”

This face-off between Mrs. Romney and Mrs. Obama marks a major change in the role of political wives, says Charles Dunn, presidential scholar and professor at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va.

Political wives now serve as character witnesses for their husbands, soften their images made hard by the rigors of the constant bombardment of negative attack ads, and make credible advocates of policy position, he says.

But this shift puts them in a vulnerable position, he says. “If they make a mistake, it could seriously damage their husband’s campaign,” he says via e-mail, adding, “had either Ann Romney or Michelle Obama failed to deliver virtuoso performances, that would have made a chink in their husband's political armor.”

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