GREEN & GLOVER: Did Madame Tussauds snub GOP first ladies?

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By Stephanie Green and Elizabeth Glover

After the fanfare surrounding first lady Michelle Obama's new wax figure at Madame Tussauds in downtown Washington Tuesday, we noticed something peculiar: No Republican first ladies have had the honor of being immortalized in wax at the museum.

Besides Mrs. Obama, the Tussauds inventory here includes a figure of Hillary Rodham Clinton and, not one, but two gloved and ladylike Jackie Kennedys.

But nary a Nancy Reagan, Betty Ford or Barbara or Laura Bush.

"There have not been enough guest requests" for, say, a Mrs. Reagan or Mrs. Ford, museum marketing director Rosemary Del Prado said Tuesday. The museum solicits feedback via its Web site and a gift-shop kiosk and asks visitors to nominate people to be included for exhibit, she explained.

"There was overwhelming support for a Michelle Obama figure because of her being a fashion icon and mother," said Ms. Del Prado, who insisted that the popular tourist attraction is strictly nonpartisan.

Others are not so sure.

"Both American history and the American people have embraced Republican first ladies," said Republican National Committee Communications Director Trevor Francis. "It's only fitting that the wax museum do the same."

Observing that according to consistent polling data, all first ladies are "viewed positively by a majority of Americans," Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway said, "If they are going to be buried next to their husbands, they should be immortalized forever [alongside] them in wax."