In the last few months of the race, Darlene Burr, wife of Don, and JoElle Hernandez, wife of Joe, could be found fueling their husband's campaign by walking the city's 21 precincts, running to mailing centers and passing out leaflets at the farmer's market. Without their support and energy, the men say, campaigning would have been much harder.

"With her, how could you lose?" said Don, jesting to his petite wife, Darlene, of 52 years while taking a brief respite from the duties that lie ahead.

The Burrs met in junior high school and married by 17. When Don became Campbell's fifth police officer in 1956, the couple moved to Campbell. Darlene recalls Campbell as quiet and peaceful with a sleepy downtown.

She was bashful then, she said, not one primed to become a politician's wife. But when Don became police chief years later, her social side blossomed.

"It changed fast," Darlene said. "My husband teases me, because I talk to strangers now."

With Darlene at his side, Don was first elected to city council in 1988. Yet even as a veteran city councilman—Don had already served 12 years prior to the 2004 election—Darlene said her election experience was far from seasoned.

Having run unopposed in 1992 and 2000, the 2004 election experience is more akin to Don's first election in 1988. Then, like this year, there were five candidates vying for only two seats.

"So that means you can't take anything for granted, you need to get out there and work," Darlene said.

And work she did. Along with a handful of volunteers, Don's campaign managed to canvass all of Campbell's precincts. Darlene walked them all.

Four of those precincts Darlene hoofed alone. Once, she went out with a friend in 93-degree heat and forgot her water at home. Then, compounding the lack of water, a wasp stung her left calf. But Mother Nature could not deter Darlene from her purpose, and she kept on going.

And the experience brought her rewards that extended beyond the winning votes, she said.

Knocking on doors and engaging citizens in conversation turned into one of her favorite aspects of campaign. "I'd feel like a friend of theirs by the time I left," she said.

Because she often lingered with citizens in long conversations, Darlene sometimes fell behind on her route. And that, she said, became stressful as Election Day neared and she still had houses to visit and streets and precincts to conquer.

Like Darlene, JoElle also put on her walking shoes and covered the precincts. Armed with a water bottle and brochures, JoElle spent whole weekends canvassing neighborhoods.

"It was very, very stressful," JoElle said. She describes the campaign work as nonstop, as if she and Joe shared an additional full-time job.

From looking through her husband's campaign brochures, running to Kinko's and the mail center, to picking up their 5-year-old daughter Mia from school, JoElle was on go nonstop. Their three fundraising events—two golf tournaments and a cocktail hour—were like planning a wedding, she said.

And like the strength that bonds the Burrs, JoElle and Joe's commitment to each other also span years. The Hernandez's history hark back to the Fourth of July after her 16th birthday, when the couple poured Cokes together at a Great America concession stand.

Having just celebrated 20 years together, JoElle said the change from wife and mother to her husband's spokesperson was a role she was not used to, but she believes she was the best person for the job.

"I found it pretty easy to say, 'Let me tell you about Joe,' " she said.

But JoElle said her largest role in Joe's campaign was behind the scenes. She was a sounding board for him at home, for his public speeches, his positions, and his campaign literature.

Being the wife of an aspiring politician—whether in a town is big or small— was not something either JoElle or Darlene foresaw, primarily because neither women viewed their husbands as politicians. To JoElle, politicians are people who don't follow up on their promises. But that rule doesn't apply to her husband, whom she said is a good listener and cares deeply about the direction Campbell will take in the future.

Darlene said her husband is also someone who is passionate about what's best for Campbell and its citizens. And although Don had already served the community for more than a decade as a councilman, she stood behind him when he decided to run for a final term.

Now the two women can finally take a break from politics, enabling them to refocus their energies. JoElle's looking forward to remodeling her home and spending more time with her daughter and Darlene is busy with her great-grandchildren.

While Darlene's campaign days may be over as Don slides into his final term, JoElle knows that if Joe runs again, the lessons learned from the first campaign will make the next go around less rocky.

"I think the next one would be easier because we've laid the groundwork," she said.