Earlier this campaign season, I posted here on the dKos about a media phenomenon which I called "candidate centralization" which simply meant that the media focuses on one candidate in any given high-visibility election and either worship them (as was the case for Arnold during the CA recall) or bash them into attempted oblivion (as was the case for Dean in the run-up to Iowa and a great deal afterwards).
A more complete explanation of this phenomenon can be found here:
http://kaushansky.dailykos.com/story/2003/12/31/6630/7488
But these centralized candidates, despite the width and breadth of where they seem to fall (or not) on the political spectrum, all seem to have one thing in common: wives that somehow miraculously give them an ace up their proverbial sleeves. And they always appear at exactly the right time, when everyone is ready to write them off as dead.
Maria Shriver showed up to demonstrate that her husband was not the perverse groper that the stories surfacing appeared to indicate.
Judy Dean came on camera when the media was jumping on Dean about his supposed "uncontrollable anger".
It remains to be seen how Judy Dean has affected the NH race, but if Dean pulls in a close second or even a victory, it will be in no small part due to his wife.