Kids on the Campaign Trail

Jan. 2, 2008 — -- The race for the presidency doesn't just consume the candidates' lives; it also becomes the focus of their families.

It seems that even the youngest members are an ever-present part of presidential pandemonium, seemingly turning the campaigns' mantra into "We Are Family. "

A surprising number of candidates' kids on the trial this election season are younger than 10.

Each potential presidential family has handled the situation differently.

Sen. Chris Dodd's daughters, 6-year-old Gracie and 2-year-old Christina, moved to Iowa with their parents.

"You know when you're running for the presidency that's a scary thing. When you're doing it with children it's much scarier," Dodd's wife, Jackie, said.

Though it's temporary, it's become a cozy home base.

"We wanted to create as much stability as we could," Jackie said.

But Gracie was worried during the holiday season.

"She wasn't quite sure that Santa could find her in Iowa," Jackie said. But a little reassurance and a really big sign solved the problem, she said.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama took a different approach to his young daughters.

The Obama girls, Meila, 8, and Sasha, 5, stayed in school in Chicago and only traveled with their father on school breaks. If fact, the Obamas have made it a point to keep their kids sheltered.

Obama joked on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" that his daughters often don't even realize they're campaigning.

"The last time I did that my eight-year-old turned to me and said, 'This is terrific daddy. But, What are we doing here again?'"

Jack and Emma Claire Edwards, John Edwards' youngest children, are being home-schooled and frequently are on the trail with their mom, Elizabeth, and the children's tutor.

"I think it would be an enormous education, in addition of course, to the fact that we'd get to see them," said Elizabeth.

Republican candidate former Sen. Fred Thompson, who is the parent of baby Sammy and 4-year-old Hayden, has stocked his campaign bus with a changing table and bottles.

Hayden has even provided her father with comical fodder for the press circuit.

When someone asked her what her father's middle name was, she replied, "Fred '08 Thompson," Thompson said.