Wives hit campaign trail for husbands" U.S. Senate bids "The fact that sequestration occurred, because nobody was willing to make a decision on the budget, has left us now to the point where we will take our Navy back to the size it was in World War I," Allen told a group late last month. And how do you do that when you're closing bases around the world? . . . It just doesn't make sense. Allen, the wife of former Republican senator and governor George Allen, is one of two former first ladies furiously hitting the Senate campaign trail this year in Virginia. The other is Anne Holton, who, in a more casual style, is out rounding up votes for her husband, former Democratic governor and aspiring senator Timothy M. Kaine. In one of the most intensely watched races in the nation, one that could help tip the balance of power in the Senate, these two political spouses have been campaigning in ways rarely seen outside a presidential contest. Zipping from coal country to Northern Virginia and seemingly every burg in between, Allen and Holton have schedules as jam-packed and well-advertised as the candidates. The women have their own campaign aides and their own itineraries, released publicly with the hope of drawing news coverage to as many as seven events a day. Holton, whose work as a judge kept her from campaigning until this race, even cut a radio ad. "I haven't seen this in a race in a really long time, where the spouses have such a high-profile and daily role," said Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. Most spouses want no part of it, frankly. . . . The spouses here are all in. Their prominence is no accident, observers say, in a year when Democrats nationally have pushed "women's issues," ranging from equal pay to abortion. Those issues have been particularly hot in Virginia, where Republicans in the General Assembly pushed a number of anti-abortion bills this year, including one that would have required women to get a vaginal ultrasound before an abortion. Both campaigns deny there is any women's-issues subtext to the wives" involvement, but many political observers think otherwise. Holton is in the spotlight to try to keep those matters front and center, political analysts say, while Allen's high profile is meant to blunt the Democrats" "war on women" claims and to soften her husband's image. "That's so crucial for Republicans, to try to reduce the gender gap with women," said Bob Holsworth, a former Virginia Commonwealth University political scientist. George Allen's campaign made "a very strategic decision" early on to highlight his wife's role in the race, according to a campaign aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss strategy. The idea was not to counter the alleged "war on women," the aide said, but simply to capi­tal­ize on her policy smarts and popularity. Campaign buttons circulating in Southwest Virginia read: "Vote for Susan Allen's husband."